Bintou Dembélé

A major figure in hip-hop in France, Bintou Dembélé perpetuates the singular path of popular cultures, embodying a Marronne way of thinking and dancing. In 2002, she set up Rualité, a structure that supports artistic and cultural projects based on the relationship between dance, music and voice. These projects involve Africanism, the underground, queerness, the baroque (Les Indes Galantes – Opéra National de Paris), and art centers (Pompidou, Musée du Quai Branly, Palazzo Grassi).
Associate artist at Ateliers Médicis (2020-2022), invited for a writing residency at Villa Médicis, she inaugurates the Villa Albertine in Chicago (2021). In 2022, she was awarded the Prix Chorégraphie (SACD).

Bintou Dembélé is one of France’s leading hip-hop artists. Since 2019, she has been one of the artists associated with Ateliers Médicis in Clichy-Montfermeil. Her stay at the Villa Médicis in April 2021 is the first in a new program of cross-residencies with Les Ateliers.
Bintou Dembélé takes time out for herself. After an initial invitation from Sam Stourdzé in 2021, which paved the way for a close relationship between Les Ateliers Médicis and Villa Médicis, she is continuing to write a book on Maronne thought and dance, and the singularity of her path, which celebrates popular cultures and their strategies for contaminating the worlds of art and culture. At the same time, she is working on a project to create a performance for dancers from the Helsinki Opera Ballet, scheduled for April 2026, and on research for Yolande Zauberman’s next film, with whom she is collaborating once again.