When Francophone African choreographers take up history, as they increasingly do, colonialism inevitably figures largely. But the impetus is not usually a specific, century-old event such as Bani Volta. In 1915, along the border between what is now Burkina Faso and Mali, 20,000 rebels took up arms against the French and were violently suppressed, the colonialists slaughtering civilians along with the fighters. Choreographers Auguste Ouédraogo and Bienvenue Bazié, of the Bourdeaux-based company Auguste-Bienvenu, may have spent half their lives in Burkina Faso but they are not alone in knowing little about this early bid for independence. Hence Bani Volta, a dance to unearth the testimonies, the memories—the history. If this world premiere is anything like the company’s previous work, the 10 dancers will go about the subject elliptically but not evasively, and with an affecting, whole-bodied gravity. —Apollinaire Scherr