Dorothée Munyaneza / Compagnie Kadidi Umuko

Dorothée Munyaneza brings on stage five young artists from Rwanda, these “old ancients” to use the words of Kae tempest, the women and men who are dreaming about the Rwanda of tomorrow but haven’t forgotten. With them, she conjures Umuko, this bright red-flowered tree that illuminated her childhood. Gathered around Umuko – the healing tree, the ancestral tree, the keeper of stories – everyone works to build connections between what has been preserved and what is standing up against collapse and what is coming.  

Pursuing love, solidarity and joy, the piece superbly combines dance, poetry, music and song to intimately connect generations through “this vulnerable, powerful, rebellious and resplendent youth that mirrors the vermillion Umuko flowers.”