Rwandan choreographer Wesley Ruzibiza took the exhilarating music of Ravel’s Bolero and transformed it into a mythical African story about the creation of the world and its first people. His East African Bolero begins with ethereal sounds from Ravel’s Bolero, the voice of a narrator about the tale of creation and electronic music by Chandresh Kudwa. Eight dancers from Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania fuse the polyphony in traditional East African dances into a contemporary modern dance set to the rhythm of the Bolero. East African Bolero ends with Ravel’s original score in an apotheosis of dance, music, colour and polyphonic movement.

The beginning and ending of East African Bolero is the circle of dancers in a group alluding to the element of togetherness in African myths. With East African Bolero Ruzibiza’s combines the power of African spirituality with the abstraction of modern dance. At the crossroads of East African traditional dances and modern dance, he blows the power of myths into the breathtaking rhythms of Ravel.

‘Looking at the dances at home, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Tanzania, I realised how richly polyphonic and rhythmic they are. These dances require great discipline and perfect precision in performance. By working with African bodies, which are often perceived as “undisciplined”, I want to create a piece that shows the precision, beauty and contemporaneity of these bodies and our traditions. For me, it is also a way to give and explore more freedom: by understanding their history and heritage, these bodies may be able to break away from the so-called universal standards of beauty’. Wesley Ruzibiza

AMSTERDAM | FRASCATI
Wed 4 October, 19H00

AMSTERDAM | FRASCATI
Thu 5 October, 19H30

ROTTERDAM | MAASPODIUM
Fr 6 October, 19H30