Paramount Presents: Cirque Kalabanté—WOW: World of Words

Get ready for a vibrant stage experience that transcends language itself! WOW (World of Words) is more than a show — it’s an encounter, a bridge between two worlds.

Imagine a stage where ancestral African wisdom captivates the audience. Separated by a symbolic line, one group shares its knowledge through powerful storytelling, hypnotic songs, and ritual initiation, while the other receives and learns — sometimes with fear, sometimes in resistance.

The exchange begins with the obstacle of spoken language, quickly overtaken by the universal force of gesture, rhythm, and sound. The set and its ropes become a language of their own: double Dutch skipping, bungee straps, and rope-based contortion turn into pathways of communication, pulsing with dialogue. Three guiding figures — Trust (W), Respect (O), and Wisdom (W) lead the journey.

Through acrobatic contact and moments of mutual support, the dividing line fades. Bodies merge, blending tradition with contemporary movement. The finale erupts into a choreography of unity and collective awakening: the journey itself becomes a revelation.

About Cirque Kalabanté
Kalabanté Productions was created by Yamoussa Bangoura, a multidisciplinary artist of Guinean origin. Yamoussa’s dream was the founding of a school of circus arts, and to direct his own multidisciplinary company specializing in the African arts.

Yamoussa first became interested in the Circus Arts as a young man growing up in Conakry Guinea in the 1990’s. He studied the circus performers he saw on European TV and practiced on the beach and dirt around his home. He also studied the Nyamakala tradition of circus, practiced by the Fula people of West Africa. He eventually joined Guinea’s original circus company, Circus Baobob, with whom he toured Africa and Europe.

In the early 2000’s, Yamoussa was recruited to come to Canada with Cirque Éloize, a Montreal-based Canadian cirque company. While in Canada, he also performed with Cirque du Soleil and Cavalia (cirque with horses). In 2007 Yamoussa realized his dream and opened his own company, Kalabanté Productions in Montreal, Canada, enlisting many of his family members to join. The company began doing shows in Quebec, and over the years expanded to all of Canada, the USA and now performs all over the world.  In 2018, Kalabante opened their own studio and school in Montreal, where they offer classes in African dance, cirque, and drumming.

Kalabanté Productions is proud to be able to share their work, achievements, and skills to inspire others and to assist with the humanitarian mission to help the Guinean community from which Yamoussa and many of his company members come.