Dorcy Rugamba
Dorcy Rugamba Workshop:
1. The Body of the Actor as a Material
Very often, the body of an actor or a dancer stands out on the stage better than others and one sees only him, as if he were exposed to a grand light while his peers stay in the dark. His face, his look, all dazzle, even when he stands still. The actor’s body is filled with his whole being. It is then said that he makes a large presence on stage. In the jargon of Rwandese dance, his body is called “ikibiri”, literally “a big skin” which means that the dancer’s body is dilated.
This part of the workshop will be about the presence on stage. The goal is to help the actor develop a clear conscience of his body in its singularity. This conscience will be achieved by ways of feelings and not rationality. This in way for each trainee to appreciate the plastic potentials of his body and how he can use them to create a poetic universe.
In the beginning we will work with each participant, and starting by simple movements, to execute full gestures in order to create living and moving sculptures. This will be done both individually and in groups.
Secondly, we will work on physical interpretation of rhythmic sentences. We do this by using the body on stage as a music instrument.
2. Creation of “Dramatic Situations”
We will go to the town of Spoleto to do an exercise of observation. Based on people we met and observed in their respective environments of lives, we will create avatars, and imagine several dramatic situation of two or three characters.
The goal of this workshop is to put each participant in position to write, interpret and direct a short scene of theatrical moment to present to the rest of the group towards the end of the workshop.
We will debate on each scene during their creation in order to establish whether we understood what each director wanted to tell us; whether created universe, invented situations are clearly for everyone.
Together we will try to understand what works better and what works less and why. We will keep in mind that participants come from different cultures. Thus, they enrich us with their different ways to interpret signs and symbols.
Dorcy Rugamba Bio
Dorcy Rugamba is a Writer, Actor, and Theatre Director. He received a “Premier Prix” in Dramatic Arts from the Royal Academy of Music in Liege, Belgium. He is also a dancer trained in the Rwandan tradition “Intore” dancers. Dorcy was born in 1969 in Rwanda, from a family of artists. His father Cyprien Rugamba was a writer, choreographer and music composer. Dorcy’s father is the founder, and Art director until his death in 1994, of the famous “Amasimbi Amakombe” Ballet; which Dorcy joined in 1977 at the age of eight. In 1991, Dorcy made his début on the international stage when “Amasimbi n’Amakombe” Ballet performed in Antwerp and Brussels (Belgium), Fribourg (Switzerland), Mainz (Germany) and Paris (France) where the Ballet is regularly invited by Francoise Gründ and Sherif Khaznadar to perform at Maison des Cultures du Monde. At this time, Dorcy who was also a student in Pharmacology at the National University of Rwanda decided to make a career in the arts.
In 1992, he founded “Isango”, his first dance and theatre group in Rwanda. Dorcy left Rwanda two years later. It was on April 12, 1994, one week after the beginning of the genocide. He first settled in Paris. Later he went to Brussels, at The Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), to complete his studies in pharmacology, started at the National university of Rwanda. After the UCL, Dorcy entered The Royal Academy of Music of Liege in the department of Dramatic Art. Since then, he devotes his time to literature and theatre.
In 1999, Dorcy co-authored, with five other authors, “Rwanda 94” a six hour-long play, in which he also plays several roles on stage. “Rwanda 94” was created at The Festival of Avignon in 1999 by Groupov and directed by Jacques Delcuvellerie. In 2001, “Rwanda 1994” received the Award of the best show in Belgium and the Océ Award for literature. In 2002, the play obtained the “prix special de la critique en France”. In 2004, ten years after the genocide, and after four seasons (in Europe, in Canada, in the Caribbean), “Rwanda 94” is presented to the Rwandan public in Butare, Kigali and Bisesero.
Meanwhile, in 2001, in Kigali, Dorcy founded “Urwintore” Workshops. It is platform for training, creation and research in performing arts.
In May 2004, Dorcy was hired by Peter Brook in a world tour to play the role of the writer Hampaté Bâ in “Tierno Bokar”, a play that Brook created at Ruhrtriennale in Germany.
In January 2005, Dorcy published “Marembo” a poetic account about the last days of his family in Rwanda.
In October 2005, as a result of “Urwintore” Workshops, Dorcy adapted and directed “The Investigation”, a documentary play of Peter Weiss on the trials of Nazi perpetrators at Auschwitz. In 2005, “The Investigation” is presented to Rwandan audience in Butare and Kigali, and to the Belgian audience in Liege during The Emulation Festival. The play was also is presented in Paris at Bouffes du Nord Theatre, Young Vic Theater in London, the Bankart Studio in Yokohama, in Japan, Chicago Shakespeare Theater and Kasser Theater in Montclair, New-Jersey, in the United States.
In December 2006, Dorcy played the role of Apemantus in “Timon of Athens” of Shakespeare, with The Théatre de la Boutonniere, Paris, in a production of Abib Nagmouchin.
In April 2007, “Bloody Niggers! ” a play written by Dorcy Rugamba, is created at the National Theatre of Belgium, in a production of Jacques Delcuvellerie. Bloody Niggers received a verry enthousiastic guess by the critics and the audience, in all Europe, Africa and caribean islands. The play is still on tour.
In April 2008 Dorcy played in the adaptation of “Fire next time” of James Baldwin, a production of Rosa Gasquet, where he plays the writer.
As of 2009, Dorcy devotes most of his time to teaching. He develops theatre curricula, teaches theater and supervises theatre related training sessions in England, Belgium, Senegal and Rwanda.
In February 2010, Theatre Suivant of Saint Quentin, with funds from Région-Ilede-France, invited Dorcy as Writer-in-Residence. He wrote there the play “Aller Retour Au Paradis” and presented it on stage with actors of “Théâtre Suivant” in a work in progerss form at The Ferme de Bel Ebat in Les Yvelines. His short play “Market Place” is adapted for radio audiences by Théâtre Suivant, and is presented within the framework of the Bruissements de la langue, 2010 edition.
Recently, Dorcy finished writing, and will be directing, “Gamblers” a play about global markets. The play will premiere on April 6,7 2011 at Zuiderspershuis in Antwerp. The coming season Dorcy will be acting in role of a racist ideologue in “Hate Radio” a play by the writer and producer Milo Rau. At the same time is working on the creation of an Academy of Performing Arts in Rwanda