Afrika Afrika dancer dies in fall from window

3 August 2006

BERLIN – A female dancer in the acclaimed Afrika Afrika circus variety show which is touring Germany was killed Thursday in a fall from a high-rise window and police opened a murder inquiry.

A spokeswoman said police are investigating if the estranged husband of the Senegalese woman, 33, was involved. He had been expelled from the circus troupe several week ago. She is survived by a 2-year-old daughter who is living with a grandmother.

Afrika Afrika was created by talent scouts who scoured small-town African marketplaces for the continent’s best acrobats, jugglers and contortionists. They have performed in a palatal carpeted tent for half a million people on a tour through Germany and Austria.

The enthusiastic reception for the music-backed show has reportedly brought pride in much of Africa at a successful cultural export.

Police, who declined to identify any suspect, said the woman fell several storeys to her death at the circus’s rented accommodation in the capital city’s Lichtenberg neighbourhood.

DPA

Subject: German news