Contemporary dance festival ends with a colorful show

The curtain fell on the four-day East African Nights of Tolerance (EANT) dance festival at the Kigali Serena on Sunday evening in a grand finale that was symbolic of the growing local interest in contemporary dance. An impressive crowd turned up for the performances which showcased a variety of techniques, costumes, props, stories, song and culture among others. The performances kicked off at 8pm, after speeches from Wesley Ruzibiza Macari, the artistic director, and Ariane Zaytzeff, the technical director of Amizero Kompagnie, the event organisers. They also introduced the dancers and their pieces. Florent Mahoukou (Congo Brazzaville) was the first on stage with Rue Dance Congo/Check One. Clad in a blue silk shirt and a wrapper; he came to the stage crawling with his head in a box speaking as a traditional song played in the back ground. He later explained that his perfomance was inspired by the perceptions young Africans have of Europe, which isn’t necessarily “greener pasture” as compared to home. The lights went off and turned back on as Papsher Kikuni (DRC), who was within the audience and was clad in a judogi (judo suit), proceeded to the stage while singing in his local dialect . His piece, called Randori, involved a lot of fighting with an imaginary opponent, dancing exciting lingala and a popular West African dance, floor work, and a technique called fall and recovery. The performance was inspired by a love for martial arts and dance. It was then time for the third piece and the lights picked out a slightly short and heavy-set person clad in white cotton trousers, top and shawl, with white face paint and a wig. This was the seasoned Vincent Harisdo (Benin-France) who is remembered for his choreography in the 2013’s FESPAD event. His piece Symphony de la solitude involved dancing and a monologue that goes hand in hand with unpredictable but graceful movement that funnily startled a child in the audience. The audience laughed as the paint, which is meant to hide his face kept fading to reveal a characteristically West African face. The piece was about how black people left Africa to the Americas but still bear African traits through their dance, sports and other activities. Earlier, Harisdo had treated the revelers to an appetizer as they waited in the lobby for the show to begin. A group of dancers that had been trained by the performer made their way to the middle of the crowd that was lost in conversation and broke into dance. The exciting and varied piece brought together nearly all the countries participating in the festival. The last performance of the night was Spirit by Burkina Faso performer Adonis Nebie, which talked about a reflection on the body and mind. He started off his dance that had a lot of floor work to a Koran recital, before the music switched to English and then interestingly to a Kinyarwanda folk song. Intayoberana dance troupe closed the night with Rwandan traditional dances. Speaking after the show Ruzibiza said he was happy about the turn-up. “In the first year, to get the public to come for these shows was really difficult but today the house was full. No wonder we will keep growing,” he said. The first two days of the performances were at St. Paul’s Hall near St. Famille Cathedral and on Saturday at the Kimisagara One Stop Youth Centre (formerly Maison des Jeunes). The East African Nights of Tolerance dance platform was created in 2012 by Ruzibiza and Amizero Dance Kompagnie in order to create dialogue and collaboration in contemporary dance throughout East Africa and to foster creative community in the region.

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Contemporary dance festival ends with a colorful show