Dorothée Munyaneza

It's been 28 years since I moved away from my native land.
28 years that I live in new lands.
28 years that I root myself elsewhere.
28 years that I haven't forgotten umuko, that tree that illuminates my childhood. That tree that resonates only in the native language. That bright red tree, earth red, which links me to what begins, to what is lost and found again, when I return, to what continues...

— Dorothée Munyaneza


At the heart of the Rwandan choreographer Dorothée Munyaneza’s new creation stands umuko, an ancestral tree with vivid red flowers, traditionally seen as a healer and a guardian of stories.

Together with five young Rwandan artists — dancers, musicians, and poets — Munyaneza celebrates the creativity, audacity, and freedom of a new generation. This generation, born after the genocide against the Tutsis in Rwanda, that tore the African country apart in 1994, carries the memory of a shared heritage while dreaming of the future and resisting the precariousness of everyday life.

umuko is a work of joy, love, and solidarity.


Post-show talk with Dorothée Munyaneza and Sarah Lewis-Cappellari (in English) on 15 Nov.

Credits

Artistic direction Dorothée Munyaneza in collaboration with / performed by Jean Patient Nkubana, Impakanizi, Cedrick Mizero, Abdoul Mujyambere, Michael Makembe Costumes Stéphanie Coudert Music Impakanizi, Jean Patient Nkubana, Michael Makembe Light & scenography Camille Duchemin Sound management Camille Frachet or Aude Besnard Light management Camille Faye or Anna Geneste Production Virginie Dupray, assisted by Nouria Tirou / cie Kadidi Coproduction Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, Chaillot Théâtre national de la danse, Maison de la danse Lyon - Pôle européen de création, PACT ZollVerein Essen, Julidans Amsterdam, deSingel Antwerp, Tanz im August – HAU Hebbel am Ufer Berlin funded by the Capital Cultural Fund, Kaai Theater Brussels, Oriente-Occidente Festival Rovereto Supported by Institut français Rwanda, Goethe-Institut, Franco-German Fund for Culture, DRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur / French Ministry of Culture