Rwanda Dance Project “Movement for Humanity” for the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Rwanda | July 14 – 17 2016

PLEASE HELP US REACH OUR GOAL BY BACKING OUR PROJECT:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1621611093/rwanda-dance-project-movement-for-humanity

About this project:

We are choreographers and teachers Tjarda Van Straten from the Netherlands and Hilde Cannoodt from Belgium and have been invited to create a dance work for the Ubumuntu Arts Festival in Kigali, Rwanda. The word Ubumuntu stands for Humanity and the festival had its first edition in July 2015. The main aim of this festival is to offer a platform for different artists from around the world to share their work methods with local artists as well as showcase their work. Arts has played a crucial role in tackling Rwanda’s immense post genocide challenges, and therefore can aid in solving challenges faced by other countries that have suffered or continue to suffer wars and indiscriminate killings.

The Ubumuntu Arts Festival is an innovation in Rwanda, a country with no theatre and where art is not even taught in schools. It is only recently that the understanding of the creative industry as a potential source of employment is starting to emerge. The festival therefore is the first of its kind of magnitude in Rwanda. Through networking and documentation as well as knowledge gathered from the exchange between artists from all over the world, the intention is to develop an arts training school which would grow into a centre of arts for up and coming professional artists.

We are invited as choreographers to create original work for the Ubumuntu 2016 festival in July. As part of this process, we will be working with a number of local dancers. The aim of this collaboration is to share our creative process with the local arts community as well as creating a possibility for exchange between two cultures. We are both trained in Laban Movement Analysis. We are from different schools and are aiming to bring our knowledge on the matter together to share with the Rwandan dance community.

With this fundraiser we are aiming to raise the funds needed for this project. We are looking to raise money to pay the local artists a decent wage as well as pay for the expenses such as venue hire, accommodation and travel expenses. We will be working for 3 weeks on this project, so we need to pay for 3 weeks of studio hire, 3 weeks of wages for the dancers, accommodation, local transport, flights, costuming fees, artist fees,… The project will start 27th June and end with a performance on the 16th July.

We believe the outcome of this project will have a ripple effect. On an immediate basis there is room for cultural and artistic exchange, on a more long term basis the information that is shared can be incorporated in future arts projects in Rwanda or abroad and the participants can share their experience with other artists in the future.

We are super excited about this project and we thank you in advance for your donations to help the Rwandan arts scene grow.

A BIG THANK YOU TO ALL OUR BACKERS:

Annelies Jansen
Charlotte Desorgher
Muriel Dijkman
Anasma Vuong-Rajau
Gudrun Herold
Kamala Devam
Luk Cannoodt
Kami Liddle
Yvette Cowles
Iris Knippels
Angie Ross
Wilma Brouwer
Hope Azeda
Katrien Schultz
Themis Athanassiadou
Leonard Hamers
Julie Blair
Floor Catshoek
Stephanie Elizondo Griest
Astrid van der Velde
Sonja Werkman
Has Cornelissen
Tanya Sheikh
Roderick en Sandra van Straten
Jan en Dirrie van Straten
Wilma Knulst
Oihana
Muriel Juillard
Simone van Dordrecht
Renate Bakker
Sanne Paardenkoper
Elles
Edina Husanovic
Diane Elizabeth Shaw
Vicky
Marieke Hamelink
Marcel van der Endt
BellyFusionLosAngeles
Tara Dakini
Sabien Jesse
Maija Rivenburg
Maartje Nieuwint
Gustavo Adolfo González Alfaya
Safiya Waley
Erika
Jeroen Bakker
Liesbeth Alen
Nadia Hoodbhoy
Karen Bradley
Soheila Hogervorst
Roel te Kolstee
Jen Mills
Claudia Baiguera
Wilma Verbeek
Heidi Vanheusden
Jolien Geerlings
Annelusa
Charlotte Wassell
Nazreen Hassan
Tobias Schütz
Agnes Millot
Nana Hilarius
Mat Jacob
Simone
Darrel Reuben Hall
Nicola Cotelo
Lily Cotelo
Niels Jansen
Jesse Stanbridge
Ariellah Aflalo
Anneke Rooth
Philippa Gebhardt
Michelle Yembra
Steven Cannoodt
Stefanie van der Zwaal
Nadia
Christine Eichendorf
Marie Lods
Stephanie van der Klaauw
Sue Illsley
Erik Ehn
James Turnbull
Kaneza Schaal
Carry Hergaarden
Lea Roelens
Katherine Brierly
Sinem
Miriam Embla
Paula Gillespie-Rivenburg
Mareike Beiersdorf
Steven Pontolaeng
Jennifer Neal
Mandy Hamson
Esther Nederpelt
Nina
Sophie Enever
Mariam
Petra Jansen
Sway Efey
Olivia Kissel
Fieke Dieleman
Teuta Dibrani
Susan Frankovich