A soft voice broke into the dark auditorium, lit only by a projection of a globe bearing the outline of Africa on a screen. “Who said empires don’t exist anymore,” the voice said, as dancers dressed in European colonial-era robes slowly emerged on stage, carrying what looked like crosses or swords. They banged on maps of Africa, as if divvying up the continent to their liking. Over the course of the next hour, the performance, in Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, grew into a frenetic dance of stomping and jabbing, the movements of warriors in battle, set to the beat of thundering drums. “You’re such a liar that even if you lose, you can still win,” declared a man standing still at the back of the stage, in what seemed a not-so-veiled reference to allegations that Mozambique’s governing party had rigged recent local elections.

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Persons: “, ” Locations: Africa, Maputo, Mozambique