Dorothée Munyaneza

thumb|Dorothée in 2025 Dorothée Munyaneza (born 1982), is a British-Rwandan singer, actress, dancer and choreographer. She has produced two performance pieces, Samedi Détente and Unwanted, both about the Rwandan genocide. Quotes 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. Dorothée Munyaneza said that This piece was also fed by stories of other women (The New York Times, Sept. 19, 2017) 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. the true said Dorothée Munyaneza (The New York Times, Sept. 19, 2017) 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. Dorothée Munyaneza said, there were also wonderful moments (The New York Times, Sept. 19, 2017) 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 At first it was going to be a solo piece said Dorothée Munyaneza (The New York Times, Sept. 19, 2017) 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. Dorothée Munyaneza said that, For me, the journey has been painful (The New York Times, Sept. 19, 2017) History is not only in the past; it is also written day by day by people, especially by the youth. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) If we keep talking about cultures or people, we keep their memory alive. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) These young artists, for me, are giving life to and embodying something that will inspire the audience’s way of seeing the world, or even of seeing Rwandans. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) Music has always played a central role in my work. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) I’m interested in narratives, in stories, so words are very important to me. And words also have rhythm; languages have rhythm. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) There’s so much violence in this world. As artists, we can contribute by building bridges, by creating spaces of collaboration and intimate encounters, poetic spaces where we can feel seen, heard, and celebrated. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) As performance artists, we need spaces in which to resonate. But audiences also need to experience our work. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) If there are no artists on stage, these spaces hold no value. These spaces are activated by our presence. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) When you spend time only with the people you know, without encountering any alterity, you miss out on so much. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) There's so much we miss when we don’t engage with new perspectives. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) How do we connect with other human beings, other cultures, different histories and journeys, and alternative narratives? Because that’s what expands our vision and opens our hearts. That’s what helps us truly understand that we are all connected. The Physical Body as Archive
. theaterspektakel.ch (October 12, 2026) Through the action of art, we resist the reduction of people to nothing. We reconstruct, reconnect, and repair. Interview with Dorothée Munyaneza | 2025. fta.ca (October 12, 2026) Beauty can be a powerful weapon against annihilation and oblivion. I would like to think that it’s an act of restitution and uplift. Interview with Dorothée Munyaneza | 2025. fta.ca (October 12, 2026) Being multilingual gives me extraordinary power, and I establish a hierarchy among the languages that I speak as a response to colonialism, which tried to wipe out dialects and languages, as was the case with the First Nations. Interview with Dorothée Munyaneza | 2025. fta.ca (October 12, 2026) I realized I needed to keep talking about subjects that are not easy to speak about, to grasp, or to share in a space where they could be understood, on the stage. Instead of a lecture or a conference, the power for this lies within the arts. Refusing to Bow Down: Dorothée Munyaneza speaks about “Unwanted”. culturebot.org (October 12, 2026) I believe as artists we need to put together something that is broken. Refusing to Bow Down: Dorothée Munyaneza speaks about “Unwanted”. culturebot.org (October 12, 2026) Sometimes people think – “It is happening over there, so it does not concern me.” It concerns all of humanity. Men and women. It is so terrible that we cannot keep going as though it does not exist. Refusing to Bow Down: Dorothée Munyaneza speaks about “Unwanted”. culturebot.org (October 12, 2026) Finding that space where life is going to take over, no matter how gloomy or how bad. Here is this femininity that is refusing to bow down, to give up. Refusing to Bow Down: Dorothée Munyaneza speaks about “Unwanted”. culturebot.org (October 12, 2026) Every time it is a special experience because through music and dance and the texts one hears or feels something is being stirred. Something is being reshaped and shaken up and disturbed. It’s not about entertainment here. We are creating and regaining power over the spaces within which we can navigate and express ourselves and make something bigger than us. Refusing to Bow Down: Dorothée Munyaneza speaks about “Unwanted”. culturebot.org (October 12, 2026) External links Category:Singers Category:Actresses from Rwanda Category:Dancers from Rwanda Category:Choreographers Category:1982 births Category:Women born in the 1980s