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sfgate.com

This article includes four lovely pictures that are in our Photo Albums.

Eternal dance
Ethnic festival to honor legacy of Malonga Casquelourd

He'd been looking forward to the dance festival he helped found 25 years ago. For Malonga Casquelourd, this weekend was to be an opportunity to reflect -- and to show off the upbeat routine he'd created for Fua Dia Congo, his celebrated Oakland company.

Instead, video images and a photo tribute will replace Casquelourd's presence today and Sunday at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival, where Casquelourd's dancers and drummers will try to mask the sadness of his death six days ago.
Casquelourd's four children perform in Fua Dia Congo, and for them, words are difficult. They say they'll let their movement on the Palace of Fine Arts stage speak to the memory of a larger-than-life figure whose drumming, dancing,
choreography -- and commitment to education -- inspired whole communities of people, whether it was in the Bay Area or his homeland, the Republic of Congo in central Africa.

Casquelourd, 55, was killed early Sunday morning in Oakland, when a suspected drunken driver crashed head-on into his car.

" A sense of duty and responsibility outweighs any internal struggles we're all going through," says daughter Muisi-Kongo Malonga, 22. "Mostly, it's staying true to whatever he would have wanted us to do. And he would have wanted us to go ahead and honor him."

Fua Dia Congo (which means "of Congolese heritage") is one of eight groups performing during the festival's final weekend. To see Fua Dia Congo onstage is to witness a rich kaleidoscope of moves and music. A lineup of drummers -- which includes Casquelourd's two sons (Kiazi Malonga, 21, and Boueta-Mbgongo Malonga, 6) -- provide the rhythm for women in colorful dress who dance in semicircles, dash from side to side and switch tempos, depending on the mood of the piece.

For this weekend's performances, Casquelourd and co-choreographer Matingou Raphael had put special emphasis on a mix of contemporary and traditional Congolese dances set in a nightclub, where gaiety plays an integral role -- though one of the four pieces, "Bakongo," pays high-energy homage to those who've died and their spirit that still resides among the living.

Raphael, who befriended Casquelourd 45 years ago during their childhood in Congo's bustling capital of Brazzaville, says performing "Bakongo" and other pieces this weekend -- and continuing to push Fua Dia Congo forward as a dance company -- is a fitting tribute to someone who never stopped working, experimenting on new routines, and taking on new and old students alike.

Among the organizations that Casquelourd founded in his lifetime were Tanawa, the first central African dance company in the United States; Diata, Diata, a Congolese all-women drum ensemble whose name means "progress"; and Ballet Kizingu, a youth company whose name means "life."

" Back in the days after the Congo went through a lot of political changes --
from Communist to Socialist -- he worked with a lot of young people and did a lot of things for the community," says Raphael, 53, remembering Casquelourd's early life, which mirrored his later life. "He was a role model."

Like all those who've known Casquelourd over the years, Lily Kharazzi, director of the ethnic dance festival, says it's difficult to come to terms with his sudden death. Casquelourd had talked about how excited he was about this weekend's performance and the reunion he would have with some of the other people on the bill, including Lily Cai and Seiichi Tanaka (founder of San Francisco Taiko Dojo).

In the early years of the festival, Casquelourd was known for his nonstop dancing and drumming. During performances, he risked the wrath of festival organizers (and fines) by going beyond his allotted time, though audiences couldn't get enough of his celebratory routines.

" In the early days, he was full of spitfire, with something to prove," says Kharazzi. "This weekend, he was coming back not having anything to prove. There was a lot of tenderness there. And he was excited about having a reunion with other artists."
Many people have stories about Casquelourd and his life, which took him from the Republic of Congo to New York to the Bay Area and places in between. Before a rehearsal this week at the Palace of Fine Arts, Muisi-Kongo Malonga talked about the wisdom her father gave her via dance.

" One thing he always used to say when we were onstage is, 'If you mess up, mess up big,' " she says. "None of this 'ooops' stuff. If you break away from the choreography and lose your place, then just go there. Go there all the way,
with full force. By messing up big, you're not messing up."

As she spoke, Casquelourd's other children -- including his other daughter, Lungusu Malonga, 19 -- remained silent. For the entire interview, they said little, but once they got onstage, their passion and intensity returned. Perhaps the stage is the only place for now where they can properly acknowledge the gifts they've inherited from Malonga Casquelourd, a man who is as much loved in death as he was during a life that took him around the world and made many people happy to see and to know him.
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San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival:

The 25th annual festival concludes at 2 and 8 p.m. today and 2 p.m. Sunday at the Palace of Fine Arts, 3301 Lyon St., San Francisco.

Performing are Fua Dia Congo, Ballet Folklorico de Carlos Morena, Chuna McIntyre & the Nu'namta Yup'ik Dancers, Lily Cai Chinese Dance Company, Gamelan Sekar Jaya, Lowiczanie Polish Folk Ensemble, FatChanceBellyDance and San Francisco Taiko Dojo. Tickets: $22-$36. (415) 392-4400, www.cityboxoffice.com, www.tickets.com or www.ethnicdancefestival.org.

Jonathan Curiel, Chronicle, Saturday, June 21, 2003
E-mail Jonathan Curiel at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com.