Adam, John and I recently returned to Rwanda to speak in person with Godelieve, to jump start our conversation on how to focus the grant funds in support of SEVOTA, and the build of a sustainable relationship between the SEVOTA communities and TCU.

On our third day in conversation with her, Godelieve invited us to the SEVOTA Center that is part of her home in Rukoma (formerly Taba, Rwanda). There she had gathered scores of women from the Gitarama province. In this photograph, you can see that she had picked up a map of Rwanda in the meeting room, and was showing us the various provinces where SEVOTA centers are located. On the table, to the right, is the hand-blown glass globe that we presented to Godelieve in March of this year, as symbol of the TCU Global Innovator Award.

While we were there, in a speechlessly moving act, she acknowledged the award she had received from TCU, and presented it to the women present. As I watched the award travel around the room,  from one woman to the next, hand to hand, I realized I was witnessing a ritual claiming that had come from a genuinely collective authorship. It was a moving experience on the most profound of levels. The longer I am with Godelieve, the more I wonder at how I am so fortunate to have come to know her, and learn from her what it means to be a leader and active force in change.

For more information on the project, go into “older posts” at the bottom of the page.

unexpectedly, Collette and I have the opportunity to set up the architecture of this work in a different way; in the way I originally imagined it: with a disappearing apex.

 

. . .potential for multiple experiences of the work.

Collette and I are in Tulsa, OK this week to participate in the EXCHANGE Choreography Festival: More than Movement, produced by The Bell House (Rachel Bruce Johnson, Artistic Director; Alicia Chesser, Curator and Assistant Artistic Director.)

 

Berceuse is on at tomorrow at 6 pm:

Exchange Choreography Festival
July 26-28, 2018
Location: Tulsa PAC Liddy Doenges Theatre, Tulsa, OK 
​110 E 2nd St, Tulsa, OK 74103

There will be a moderated dialogue and a discussion with the audience as part of the presentation.

http://www.thebellhouse.info

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New York Dance Therapy and wild goose chase/the landing will offer the Authentic Movement Retreat again this summer!

Thanks to Alex Masi, I have some photos to share from the Global Innovator Award presentation to Godelieve Mukasarasi, Director of SEVOTA in Rwanda.

Just before coming to Fort Worth, Godelieve was in Washington DC to receive an award from the US Department of State, presented by Melania Trump.

The ceremony started with a beautiful film that Adam created for the event – a collection of photographs and video clips from various sources, including our January visit in Rwanda with Godelieve.

Next the TCU Rwandan community, led by Pacifique Rutamu (in front, and center), danced for Godelieve. They used the dancing to bring her to stage, along with the presenters.

Finally, Elizabeth Gillaspy (Director, TCU School for Classical & Contemporary Dance) and Anne Helmreich (Dean, TCU College of Fine Arts) presented the award – Irené Kwihangana translated, and SCCD dance majors, travelers to Rwanda, presented the actual awards.

Group photos to further convey the festive nature of the evening.

 

 

Had a lovely interview with Beatriz Terrazas back in the fall.  It would seem being able to condense an hour-long conversation into so few words, still capturing essence, is somewhat like composing minute-long dances, or piano works.  (p.15)  

Lori Diel’s work is in here as well! (p. 11)

https://20auvj44da9p3u0ps1z9avfg-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Endeavors-2018.pdf

Photo: Alex Masi  Dancer: Laura Mobley

One of our TCU friends, Pacifique Rutamu, graduated from Agahozo Shalom Youth Village. https://asyv.orghttps://asyv.org ASYV was founded by American Anne Heyman https://asyv.org/our-founder/  The framework of ASYV mirrors that the model of residential youth communities built in Israel after WWII for orphans of the Holocaust . https://asyv.org/the-asyv-story/https://asyv.org/the-asyv-story/ The goal of ASYV, therefore is …to heal and educate vulnerable Rwandan youth, helping them to realize their maximum potential, and become socially responsible citizens.

Before arriving to ASYV, Pacifique had told us that Ms. Heyman searched throughout Rwanda to find an inspiring site and, guided by a Rwandan proverb that states If you can see far, you will go far – she settled the village into the hilly terrain north and east of Kigali.

We had lunch at ASYV – it was delicious – warm, grounding. We had just come from the Kigali Genocide Memorial and speaking for myself, the beans and rice helped to fill some quite vacuous spaces in my body.

 

 

We met director, JC (Jean-Claude Nkulikiyimfura) and public relations fellow MC (Marie Claire Levy), and Fulbright Specialist and volunteer, Phyllis Lerner for a tour as well as some of the incoming first year students. Competition is fierce to enter ASYV. Teachers across the country make recommendations – about 2500 in total – and only 128 students are chosen to enter each year. Notably, 2/3 are young women and 1/3 are young men. Rwanda is prioritizing the education of women.

We toured the campus – it’s several acres. We started in the dining hall/gathering space, went up to visit the classrooms, amphitheater, residential section and agricultural and livestock sectors. In that oh-so-small-world way, when we arrived at the amphitheater, I put two and two together, and realized that new friend and TCU partner, Shelby Sullivan,  Volunteer Coordinator of Refugee Services in Texas (Fort Worth division), had been to ASYV!  We were talking about Rwanda before the trip – in November – and she mentioned ASYV and how remarkable it was both for how it was designed and developed, and the success it has had. She mentioned weekly performances in the amphitheater. It turns out that Pacifique was on the dance team – he performed regularly in ASYV’s amphitheater. And, of note, when he was there, the team won 2nd place in national competition. Shelby was one of eight fellows at ASYV in 2015. Fellows rotate yearly and are the cousins to the eight households where the students live with a Mama. The residential living spaces and the village itself were created to reflect family structures.  It is truly lovely to have found another in my immediate sphere who has a clear picture of where we were, what we saw, some insight into the feelings we experienced, and the spirit of the people we met.

TCU will present this award to Godelieve Mukasarasi on Saturday evening, March 24th during the DanceTCU Concert. There is a reception following the concert to honor Mrs. Mukasarasi.

W.E. Scott Theater / Fort Worth Community Arts Center / 1300 Gendy Street / 76107                          Tickets $15 General Admission / $7.50 Students with ID                                                                                                  Ticket purchase on line: dance.tcu.edu

See “Loretta” – 8:00pm, Ballet Austin’s City View Lounge, 501 W. 3rd , Austin

Sometimes choreography and cinematography like to jam in this wonderful genre of art we like to call dance film. This year, Austin Dance Festival is thrilled to present “Dance on Film,” the first installation of a dance film screening and sharing which will kick off the weekend of modern dance celebration. If you’re looking to treat your eyes, join us downtown to see a handful of selected works by movers and filmmakers nationwide!

http://www.kdhdance.com/austin-dance-festival/line-up/

Gisimba Memorial Center and After-School Program is Patrick Rutikanga’s family legacy. Patrick’s grandparents founded the center as an orphanage in the 1970s. His father and uncle ran the orphanage from 1986 to 2017. In 2012, the Rwandan government began the process of closing all the orphanages in the country, shifting to a foster care system. After the transition, Patrick and his father, Damas Gisimba, shifted the focus to an after-school program, gathering and serving the vulnerable children in this Kigali neighborhood and two other sectors of the city.

http://ktpress.rw/2017/11/gisimba-orphanage-turns-into-training-centre/

The students who meet at Gisimba daily include many who are not enrolled in school. By first-world standards, school fees and uniforms are not expensive. But for many families in these neighborhoods, the costs are well beyond their means. Gisimba teachers – volunteering their time – engage the children in dance, singing, drumming, painting and jewelry-making.  They also work with them on literacy and tutor those who are in school in other subjects. There is an on-site library in addition to the several studios and gathering places for performing, sports and sharing time with visitors, like our group.

 

The children shared their dance and music with us.

 

We visited the jewelry-making studio and the painting studio. The children sell their work to help support their families.

The children are proud of their library and work there in a creative learning environment.

To say I was impressed with the Gisimba teachers would be an understatement. They are working artists and, in one case, a working surgeon.  The teachers’ investment – and their joy – in engaging with the children, is palpable.  As is Patrick’s. Patrick designed a summer camp this past year “I Know I Can!” which had great success. He is dreaming of expanding it to last longer, and have greater a greater impact: for example, he would like the children to be able to tour their performance work. Patrick is a graduate of TCUs IEP and we are looking forward to his return to graduate school next fall.

We enjoyed dinner one evening with Patrick and the dance teachers from Gisimba. Eya Khalifa shared one of the AFRO KASA films with us – work he choreographed and performs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m7OOwPIMU78

In opening this entry, I noted that the Gisimba Center is Patrick’s legacy. It is also the legacy of the Rwandese people. A legendary act of bravery occurred here during the 1994 genocide.  Patrick’s father, Damas, his uncle, Jean-Francoise and an American named Carl Wilkens, country director of ADRA, the Adventist relief organization, stood together to prevent a massacre of over 400 orphans and adults taking refuge in the center. There is a brief account here in this 2011 Guardian article on line.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jun/21/rwanda-heroes-reunited

In his book “I’m not leaving” published by World Outside My Shoes (Spokane WA) in 2011, Wilkens offers a detailed account of his stay in Kigali during the 100-day genocide when the rest of the international community fled and the choices he made daily to move as a human being among human beings through the height of the devastation. It is a difficult read. May we all inherit their courage.