Kanlanfei Danaye, a master of puppet theatre from Togo, has been traveling the world for 20 years, showing his puppets made from all sorts of materials (bottle gourd, wood, paper, fabric and recovered materials) which are now considered to be masterpieces the like of which can only be seen in the biggest museums in Europe.
Since his earliest days he has been fascinated by "cicili", which are the fetishes of ancestors carved by his father. At the age of 15 he was initiated into the art of magical figure carving. After animator's training in Lome he discovered that the only thing his puppets missed was movement. He returned to Dapaong, his hometown in the north of Togo, where he attempted at giving secular performances. At first he was dismissed as a madman! Later, however, considering the nobleness of his intentions, the tribe elderly allowed him to make copies of fetishes devoid of religious elements during a special ceremony devoted to the spirits of ancestors and to gods.
Danaye started to give performances during traditional local festivities; in the course of time he performed more and more all across the country, then also outside Togo and Africa. His inspiration was the traditional repertoire and his own imagination, which made his puppet theatre an ideal mode of communication between people, nations and generations. His shows invariably look into current issues: environmental protection, corruption, democracy, life and death; they point at social conflicts and possible ways of solving them, at mass emigration from the countryside and problems of the exiled... His performances are intermingled with songs in various Togo languages, dances, traditional music and French texts. He animates his puppets in a visible way; at the same time he talks with his heroes and the audience.
Danaye teaches young artists in Maison de la Marionnette, a centre of puppet art, which he founded in Lome in 1997. His former students created eight puppet companies which constitute a national centre called UNIMA-Togo. Everybody meets during yearly puppet festivals in Lome.

Performances: Saturday, 26 VI 2004, 21.45 (Plac przed Teatrem Dramatycznym), Sunday, 27 VI 2004, 18.30 (Rynek Kościuszki)
Presentations: Friday, 25 VI 2004, 18.30; Saturday, 26 VI 2004, 12.00 i 19.00; Sunday, 27 VI 2004, 12.30 (Rynek Kościuszki)