{"id":1012,"date":"2012-11-09T06:36:08","date_gmt":"2012-11-09T06:36:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rebeccadavisdance.com\/?p=921"},"modified":"2015-09-24T21:42:12","modified_gmt":"2015-09-25T01:42:12","slug":"east-african-nights-of-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/2012\/11\/09\/east-african-nights-of-tolerance\/","title":{"rendered":"East African Nights of Tolerance"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The East African Nights of Tolerance (EANT) Festival is an initiative organized by Amizero Dance Kompagnie of Rwanda and sponsored by the Prince Claus Foundation.\u00a0 From November 3 to 10, 2012, dance companies from Rwanda, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, the UK and the USA, have gathered together to present choreographic works on the themes of conflict-resolution and peace-building.\u00a0 Rebecca Davis Dance Company (RDDC) is representing the USA with its production of Darfur: The Ballet <\/em>at the festival.<\/p>\n

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In addition to nightly performances, festival participants are learning about a piece of Rwandan history: the 1994 genocide.\u00a0 On Wednesday, November 7, a group of 28 dancers from around the world went to the Gisozi Genocide Memorial Museum in Kigali.\u00a0 I have been to the museum and memorial several times, but I have never been there with such a diverse group of African artists \u2013 in fact, I am the lone Caucasian and one of only four females.<\/p>\n

At the outset, I will just say that is impossible to describe the emotions one experiences as she passes through the Gisozi Memorial.\u00a0 There are moments when I think, \u201cThe history of the colonial period explains the roots of this astronomical atrocity.\u201d Two minutes later, I find myself thinking, \u201cThere is no rational explanation for why people would kill babies and two year-olds with machetes and grenades.\u201d\u00a0 The Memorial is a lasting reminder that imposing artificial divisions \u2013 as the colonial powers did \u2013 creates an atmosphere of tension that can be manipulated into war and genocide.\u00a0 Yet, it also reminds the international community of our failure to prevent the loss of innocent life when we had the information and the capacity to do so.<\/p>\n

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Following this visit to Gisozi, the dancers gathered for a round-table discussion at Papyrus, a local restaurant and performance space in Kigali.\u00a0 Here, we exchanged our views on how the arts can be used as a tool to promote peace and challenge political and social forces that sometimes work against an otherwise harmonious society.\u00a0 The group represents a huge breadth of experience: dance artists who work with street children in Zimbabwe or demobilized child soldiers in Congo and Rwanda; choreographers who survived the 1994 Tutsi Genocide and use spoken word and contemporary dance to express their own stories; and directors tackling issues such as blood diamonds, freedom of expression and individual identity.\u00a0 Perhaps one of the most pointed comments in the discussion was verbalized by Carole Karemera: \u201cIt is better to be concerned before it is your time.\u201d<\/p>\n

One divisive point of conversation was whether artists should have a specific message that is conveyed in their work.\u00a0 Sekombi Katondolo argued that the artist should have the right to make work just to create \u2013 perhaps the purpose is \u201cto have fun.\u201d\u00a0 Other artists, such as myself and Wesley Ruzibiza, believe that the artist\u2019s voice should be used to say things that may otherwise be avoided or forgotten.\u00a0 We want our audience to think more than we want them to enjoy.\u00a0 Each has the right to choose in which realm he will place his work, but it is a decision that needs to be deliberately taken by the artist.<\/p>\n

In the evening, there were three solo performances presented: Ceci n\u2019est pas Noire <\/em>(Alesandra Seutin), 42 Kilometer<\/em> (Papi Ebotani), and To Be or Not To Be<\/em> (Shane Muhimanyi).\u00a0\u00a0 Alesandra, a dancer and spoken word artist from Zimbabwe and living in the UK, explored misconceptions people make when they pass another person.\u00a0 She wanted to find a way to share her story so that others could feel free to search and find their own identities.\u00a0 Papi, a dancer from Democratic Republic of Congo, used contemporary movement to illustrate the path he is following to find himself in life, a life which has surpassed 42 years.\u00a0 In his words, \u201cmy story is a voyage\u201d and it is shaped by \u201cresistence, determination and patience.\u201d\u00a0 Shane, a Rwandan dancer who moved to the UK after 1994, presented a work choreographed by Wesley Ruzibiza, Amizero\u2019s Director and the Coordinator of the EANT Festival.\u00a0 It uses an original text that asks, \u201cWhat is freedom?\u201d and \u201cWhat is love when you have lost everyone you love?\u201d Shane\u2019s movement is based on the gestures he remembers from his mother before her life was taken during the genocide.<\/p>\n

Each of these pieces was entirely different but all shared the theme of the festival: dance as a tool and form of expression around the issues of conflict-resolution and peace-building.\u00a0 As artists, we have a special way we can contribute to the awareness and dialogue that needs to take place for stable living conditions to emerge in every society around the world.\u00a0 Then, we will have a reason to dance for celebration.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Davis is the Founder of Rebecca Davis Dance Company (RDDC).
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The East African Nights of Tolerance (EANT) Festival is an initiative organized by Amizero Dance Kompagnie of Rwanda and sponsored by the Prince Claus Foundation.\u00a0 From November 3 to 10, 2012, dance companies from Rwanda, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Tanzania, the UK and the USA, have gathered together to present choreographic works on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-rwanda-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mindleaps.org\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}