“As always, everything starts from encounters, encounter with Elsa Dorlin, the philosopher, encounter with her text Me, you, us: I, Tituba and the Ontology of the Trace that  I enjoyed setting to movement in 2021 as part of L’ADN Dance Living Lab  at the National Theatre of Chaillot, and then the reunion with Tituba  and Maryse Condé’s line of thought.

A story-genealogy, published in 1986, I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem  gave life, from a few lines discovered in the minutes of a trial for  witchcraft, to Tituba, woman, black and witch, at a time when it was not  right to be either of them. A work-resistance, that of Maryse Condé,  who has never ceased to give back a voice, a flesh, a story to what has  been erased, silenced and bruised.

Everything is there. How to resonate the breaths,  lives and dreams of those men and those women whose identities and very  existences were denied and crushed by the slave trade and the colonial  system? Through words? Through the body, perhaps, since I am a dancer?  Through the voice that inhabits space, songs that speak to those who are  there and those who are far away? How to move my body and my story so  as to make audible, visible and palpable the traces of those  extinguished, gone unnoticed, ignored or forgotten, how to relate to my  own history which no written trace testifies, except perhaps for a few  “historical erasures” to use Elsa Dorlin’s words in the colonial  administrative archives? Is it possible to make lineage, to relate for  the time a dance lasts, those that history has forgotten with so much  application, with our lives, but also with those who are yet to be  born?”

Dorothée Munyaneza

Based in Marseille, Dorothée Munyaneza is a multi-disciplinary artist using music, song, text and movement to deal with rupture as a dynamic force. Munyaneza draws from real stories seizing body, memory and our times to create a space of resonance.

Originally from Rwanda, Dorothée Munyaneza moved to England with her family in the summer of 1994 at the age of 12. She trained at the Jonas Foundation in London, studied music and social sciences in Canterbury, before moving to France.

In 2006, she meets François Verret, they collaborate on Sans Retour, Ice, Cabaret, and Do you remember, no I don’t. Since then, other collaborations have included Radouan Mriziga, Alain Mahé, Jean-François Pauvros, Robyn Orlin, Ko Murobushi, Nan Goldin, Stéphanie Coudert, Rachid Ouramdane, Maud Le Pladec, Alain Buffard, Maya Mihindou and Ben LaMar Gay. 

In 2013, Munyaneza founds in Marseille the Kadidi company. The company’s repertoire includes Samedi Détente (2014), Unwanted (2017) Mailles (2020), a capella (2022) and Toi, moi, Tituba… (2023).

In 2020 Dorothée Munyaneza translates Hopelessly Devoted by Kae Tempest (formerly known as Kate Tempest). Published by L’Arche Éditeur, Inconditionnelles will be staged by Dorothée in November 2024 at the invitation of the Bouffes du Nord in Paris.

Associate artist at the Théâtre la Ville - Paris from 2018 to 2021, Dorothée is now associated with the Théâtre National de Chaillot and the Maison de la Danse and the Dance Biennale in Lyon, and in residence at the Fondation Camargo from 2022 to 2024.

More information: https://www.ciekadidi.com/

Born in 1977, Fabien Plasson is a video director specialized in the field of performing arts (dance , music, etc).

During his studies at the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts de Lyon (joined in 1995) Fabien discovered video art. He was trained by various video artists (Joel Bartoloméo Pascal Nottoli , Eric Duyckaerts , etc).
He first experimented with the creation of installations and cinematic objects.

From 2001 to 2011, he was in charge of Ginger & Fred video Bar’s programming at La Maison de la Danse in Lyon. He discovered the choreographic field and the importance of this medium in the dissemination, mediation and pedagogical approach to dance alongside Charles Picq, who was a brilliant video director and the director of the video department at that time.

Today, Fabien Plasson is the video director at La Maison de la Danse and in charge of the video section of Numeridanse.tv, an online international  video library, and continues his creative activities, making videos of concerts, performances and also creating video sets for live performances.

Sources: Maison de la Danse ; Fabien Plasson website

More information: fabione.fr

Founded in 2013 by Dorothée Munyaneza in Marseille, the Kadidi company have given birth to four pieces: Samedi Détente (2015), Unwanted (2017), Mailles (2020) and Toi, moi, Tituba... (2023), as well as numerous site-specific performances.

Supported by the DRAC Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur since 2019, and a subsidized company (compagnie conventionnée) since 2023, Kadidi combines an international reach with a solid local base.

The company is extensively touring on the international scene, in Europe (Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, Portugal…), but also in Canada, the USA and Brazil.

In Marseille, Kadidi is supported by the Festival de Marseille, the Ballet National de Marseille, La Friche de la Belle-de-Mai, Plateforme Parallèle, the Montévidéo art centre and the Festival Actoral among others, without forgetting other partners in the PACA region such as the Fondation Camargo in Cassis, the Festival d'Avignon, the Théâtre de Nîmes, Châteauvallon-Liberté...

Since 2018-19, Dorothée has been engaged in a creative long-term dialogue with a group of women from the Cité Castellane in Marseille. Avec elles has been hosted in 2023 by the Camargo Foundation.

In the coming years, the company aims to support the emergence of younger artists, both locally and in Rwanda, through workshops, creative processes and mentorships.

More information: https://www.ciekadidi.com/en