Dancers From Rwanda

"As an artist, I really try to understand the world that I am living in and on a daily basis, see how I can contribute to it. It’s all about reflecting, questioning and how I can use my time on earth the best way I can. I try to understand human beings and which kind of world we will leave for our children. I believe that there is no time for anybody, which is why I learn as much as I can and see every day as a new day."

"Life is short, make good use of it. Art is long and if you make good use of it will help you survive and you could use it to speak to the world."

"Veteran artists have been struggling to present art in the reconstruction of the country. In a country that is developing fast, art is what helps us define who we are and where we belong. Art is society."

"The idea is to join and add the different institutions to help the artists so that we can show the people in Rwanda that we exist. We want people to stop ignoring where we are all over the country."

"We need to make sure that every part of the city is well represented by the artists and that there are shows in every part of the country."

"Rwanda is in me, it’s very deep. My creativity is linked to the past, my childhood there. There is much to be said and told, not just through dance and music, but that is one way to address it. It’s a question of creating, mending, performing, witnessing, sharing."

"It’s true that men who invade territories also want to annihilate the physical body, the social body. But I decided to zoom into the stories of the Rwandan women and let that spread out and speak of the others."

"I would ask if I could take a photo after talking to them, and most would change into a beautiful dress. They wanted me to carry beauty and hope with me."

"I recorded their voices and really tried to capture how they held themselves, how they walked, how they wiped away their tears. It all became physical, choreographic, material. We hear some of their testimonies in the piece, and I had to find a way for the body to navigate through these spoken words"

"The choreography was about digging into the physical memories of these women’s tension, their rage, their sorrow. I tried to honestly remember my feelings and the emotional journey I went through in their presence. I am not trying to reproduce rape; I want to cut through the trauma so that people can receive and understand these experiences. The body speaks when testimony has been suspended."