Libreville · Dance and live arts
Libreville, Capital of the Arts: Latif Ogoula Opens His Biennale to Ten Central African Countries
Getting Central Africa's artists on tour: that is the bet of the Biennale Internationale Danse & Arts Libreville, whose 11th edition will bring together, from November 25 to 28, 2026 at Le Grand Libreville, ten countries of the sub-region and France as guest of honour — led by Ogoula Latif Jean Remy, the artistic director who trained a generation of Gabonese artists.
Libreville (Gabon), November 9, 2026. Some gatherings redraw the map of a region. From November 25 to 28, 2026, Le Grand Libreville will become the capital of Central African arts: the Biennale Internationale Danse & Arts Libreville will bring together storytellers, choirs, dancers, musicians, actors and slammers from ten countries, with France as guest of honour. At the helm, a man who has been driving Gabonese culture for twenty years: Ogoula Latif Jean Remy.
Ten countries, every stage
Storytelling, choral singing, dance, music, theatre, slam: the Biennale embraces all the live arts, between performances, training workshops, a scientific conference, poetic consultations and exhibitions. Its theme states the ambition — “Dialogue of Cultural Spaces and Dissemination in Central Africa”: ten to fifteen directors of cultural venues from across the sub-region will be in Libreville to work on artists' ability to tour, the question that decides whether creations live on. Universities and grandes écoles will have their own strand, on the opportunities of digital technology in the cultural and creative industries.
Ten editions of Plateau Jeune Création, then the Biennale
The Biennale does not come from nowhere: it continues the Festival Plateau Jeune Création Libreville, created in 2012, whose tenth and final edition took place in 2023 — hence its numbering as the 11th edition. In five years, the platform had trained 250 young Gabonese artists, produced 32 shows and sent its alumni to companies in the Netherlands, France, Germany, the United States and Asia. It is that school of the field that now scales up to an entire region.
The man who makes Libreville move
Ogoula Latif Jean Remy's journey began in 2005, as a volunteer at the Festival Gabao, Libreville's great hip-hop gathering, whose general stage manager he became in 2011-2012. A dancer turned toward the world — Brazil, Denmark, France, South Africa — he is today Visa For Music's ambassador in Gabon, partner of the Consultations Poétiques of Paris's Théâtre de la Ville, Gabon's representative at the New Africa-France Summit in Montpellier in 2021, and a member of the 2022 cohort of the American International Visitor Leadership Program. The Biennale is the crowning achievement of that journey: twenty years of actions, initiatives and world tours leading to one stage, in Libreville, open to all of Central Africa. His full portrait: the profile of Ogoula Latif Jean Remy in our directory of professionals.
In practice
Dates : Wednesday, November 25 to Saturday, November 28, 2026 — 11th edition
Venue : Le Grand Libreville, Libreville (Gabon)
Theme : “Dialogue of Cultural Spaces and Dissemination in Central Africa”
On the programme : Storytelling, choral singing, dance, music, theatre, slam; training workshops, a scientific conference, poetic consultations, exhibitions and visual arts
Participating countries : Angola, Cameroon, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, Chad — France, guest of honour
Organizer : CAE Culture Prod — artistic direction: Ogoula Latif Jean Remy
Official contacts : [email protected]; +241 77 46 20 66 · +241 66 69 54 78
