Aguibou Bougobali SANOU is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at Grinnell College and a Ph.D. student in Dance at Texas Woman’s University. A multidisciplinary artist from Burkina Faso, West Africa, Sanou is a dancer, choreographer, musician, storyteller, and the founder and director of both the In-Out Dance and World Arts Festival and Arts Green Culture, a creative and ecological space in Burkina Faso.

In 2018–2019, Sanou was awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholarship by the U.S. State Department, completing an artist residency at Naugatuck Valley Community College in Waterbury, Connecticut. He taught "History and Appreciation of World Dance" and developed a curriculum focused on African Traditional and Contemporary Dance there. He rose to international attention in 2016 as a semi-finalist on Africa’s Got Talent.

Sanou’s choreographic language merges traditional Mandingo dances from West Africa with Brazilian capoeira and theatrical forms, shaped by his collaborations with acclaimed European choreographers and directors such as Salia Sanou, Carolyn Carlson, Thierry de Mey, Luca Fusi GM, Régine Chopinot, and Alexandre de la Caffinière. Drawing from sacred and secular dance traditions in Burkina Faso, he creates a powerful and original theatrical expression.

In recognition of his artistic vision, Sanou was commissioned to choreograph the opening and closing performances of the Pan-African Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou (FESPACO) in 2025. He earned his MFA from the Philadelphia University of the Arts (UARTS).

Sanou’s work has earned several international accolades, including the bronze medal for choreography at the 2013 Jeux de la Francophonie in Nice, France; second prize at the 2012 Semaine Nationale de la Culture (SNC) in Burkina Faso; and the Delphic Laurel Award at the 2009 Delphic Games in South Korea.

Over the past decade, Sanou has built a global presence through performances and workshops in Mexico, Israel, South Korea, India, Indonesia, Morocco, France, and the United States. His dedication to dance as a tool for social transformation is evident in his creation of a rehabilitation dance program for Burkina Faso’s civil prison inmates, which uses movement and creativity to support reintegration and healing.