The annual East African Nights of Tolerance, (EANT), a contemporary dance festival is back. Founded in 2012, the festival serves as a platform for regional integration and capacity building, as well as a tool for peace and tolerance through dance performances.

This year, the festival will feature performances from Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, DR Congo, Cameroon, Ivory Coast and Belgium.

Previous editions have featured performances from the East African bloc, France, the UK, US, Belgium, Germany and Italy. There will be four shows staged between November 24 and November 27 in Kigali.

The opening show is a collaboration between Rwanda and Ivory Coast on Thursday. Wesley Ruzibiza, the festival curator, a contemporary dancer and founding director of Amizero Dance Kompagnie, will share the floor with Nestor Nkameh, from Ivory Coast. It will take place at the Zenith Hotel in Kimihurura.

The same venue will host two more shows – on Friday November 25, and Sunday, November 27, while on Saturday November 26 the festival heads to Kimisagara (Maison de Jeunes).

The Saturday performance will feature contemporary Hip hop performances mixed with painting.

"Taking up the challenge of creating and sustaining a contemporary dance festival meant for a Rwandan audience was not an easy dream,” explained Ruzibiza, who will be taking to the festival’s stage for the first time;

"Popular belief is that this type of art form is not suited for Rwandan audiences and is only targeting the expatriate community. We wanted to test this assumption and for us to continue this adventure it was necessary to make sure that local audiences would pick interest in this festival, attending, participating and therefore making it sustainable in the long run.”

Unlike all previous editions, this year’s festival won’t have a theme;

"This year we don’t have a theme because last year we realised that it was actually better to leave the artists free to express whatever they wanted,” explained Ariane Nina Zaytzeff, the festival producer.

Ruzibiza further said that, five years down the road, through various activities developed (training workshops, talks, and exchanges), the festival has cultivated a niche audience that respects, understands and practices contemporary dance in Rwanda.

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