Famous dancer shares screendance techniques

LAST WEEK, Ishyo Arts Centre hosted a renowned South African/Danish media artist Jeannette Ginslov for a one week workshop in screendancing. She is the Artistic Director of Walking Gusto Productions, a video dance maker and curator for montage video dance festival & moves09 Africa.The 52-year-old dancer collaborates with artists from a variety of media and contexts. Most of her works combine dance, music, text, video and interactive media in a stimulating exploration of the notion of identity and freedom. Jeannette came to Rwanda following an invitation by Carol Karemera, the founder of Ishyo Arts Centre.“Carol was looking for someone in Africa, who could come and teach screendancing. She contacted Lilian Loots of Flat Dance Company based in South Africa. Lilian knows me and she called me. I was excited and said yes” she said.The main goal of the workshop was to break the stereotype of making films and allow the body to tell the story. “Often, filmmakers are taught rules that were established by a very strong cinematic tradition - you don’t move your camera from tripod, and you don’t cross the line. I absolutely respect these rules and I think they have a place. However, what streetdance do is to break all these rules” explained Jeannette.The workshop participants were carefully selected: “I did not want everyone to attend. I wanted to involve talented artists in Rwanda. A team that would work together to develop projects that would be put online,” said Carol.The participants worked in two groups, and each group elected a director, cameraperson, editor, choreographer, dancer and producer. They planned, shot and edited two-minute videos. They were not disappointed, “I am so proud to be part of this workshop. I have been involved with dancers and choreographers but have never had a chance to work with filmmakers. I think it’s good for me to know what a filmmaker wants from dancers,” Eugene Dushime, a Rwandan choreographer, noted.“As a video editor, this workshop taught me that editing is not just cutting the clips and dropping them on the timeline. I learned how to edit emotions and rhythm. I feel that I can also edit music videos artistically,” said Guy Ndoli, a Kigali based video editor. The editing process was supported by the KWETU Film Institute.Jeannette’s advice to the upcoming artists is candid: “Your passion, drive and creativity always go hand in hand and never ever give up. Never be afraid to make mistakes. Make mistakes and the more you make the more you learn. It means even if you will fail you will learn something.” Carol, a former contemporary dancer, traces the origin of Ishyo Arts Centre some years back.“In 2008, I directed the Pan African Dance Festival. I was inspired and decided to start a project that could develop online documentation of contemporary dance. Rwanda has a rich culture that need to be promoted, shared and protected. I said let’s start something and Ishyo Arts Centre was born,” said Carol.In addition, Ishyo Arts Centre runs a digital library project that is stocked with literature from Africa, Caribbean and Pacific countries. In the next few days, the centre will get busy “As you are aware, Monday is International Reading Day. We are co-organising an event with Imbuto foundation. It will be a week of literature,” Carol says.

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Famous dancer shares screendance techniques