Mashirika: Hope Azeda at ICAN conference

Mashirika: Hope Azeda at ICAN conference
by Andrea VALEIRAS
25 October 2010

The American dancer Martha Graham said that great dancers are not great because of their technique; they are great because of their passion. “Dance is the hidden language of the soul of the body.”

Hope Azeda seems to think the same and her project, Mashirika Creative and Performing Arts Group, is the best evidence.

Through music, dance and theatre, the Rwandan people can express themselves and their reality, showing the world performances full of colour and emotions. Hard facts such as the genocide are explained with dances and plays, with the aim of making the audience realise that the problem is real; it happened in their lives.

Sharing their truths with the whole world is helping Rwandans with social transformation.

For example, Mashirika has participated in the campaign of a new reproductive health logo for Delivery of Improved Services for Health (DISH) and for the Family Planning Association of Uganda (FPAU). They have also performed in the symposium organized by the International Drama Education in Kenya (KIDEA) and they staged the play Fire Stones “Amashyiga ya Seshutsitwa” at the Call of Arts Symposium at Harvard University USA.

Dance and theatre are international ways to express universal feelings.