Donne moi des pieds pour danser

“Give me feet to dance” is the beginning of a Bijogo women’s song for initiation ceremonies. In other words, they call on their mind in order to get the spirit to dance and live. This film takes us into the life of the Bijogo people. These people live on an archipelago, offshore from Guinea Bissau. Relatively untouched by the Portuguese civilisation, the Bijogo still leave in a very traditional society. Divided into age groups, the youths tend to work for the elders in an economy based on rice monoculture during the rain season. On the one hand,  these traditions permitted the conservation of incomparable dances, rituals and masks. On the other hand, young Bijogo people and women try to find solutions to bypass custom and gain ten years on the initiation process. They also try to diversify their agriculture by organizing kitchen gardens and by teaching women crop rudiments and the goodness of vegetables. This film explores two main aspects of the Bijogo society: tradition and openness to the future.