00:00Movement is our first language.
00:02Before we learn to speak, we move.
00:04There's a reason why babies bounce when they listen to music,
00:08and they do it without restraint or consideration for the rhythm.
00:12For 23-year-old dancer Onore Manzi Murengesi,
00:15dance is how tradition moves forward.
00:19I also take Inore traditional dance as my spine in my whole dancing career.
00:24Onore grew up surrounded by Rwanda's traditional rhythms and movement.
00:29Especially in Tore, the country's warrior dance known for strength, posture and discipline.
00:37At the same time, he came of age in a global world,
00:41where dance styles travel freely across borders.
00:45Since I was a kid actually, I started dancing as a traditional dancer.
00:50And what I grew up learning about Inore is about how Inore is not just about dancer,
00:55it's a dancer which also gives a story, a pride, nationality.
01:02Rather than choosing between tradition and modern styles,
01:07Onore created a space in between.
01:09A movement language he calls Afro-Hybrid.
01:13Afro dance is like an umbrella of those dance styles from traditional in Africa.
01:19So, hybrid is like, it means like, when you bring two things and try to fusion that.
01:23Traditional is a powerful thing when it comes to combine with different,
01:27like, hip-hop, dance hall.
01:30So, it gives me like, a way of creating dance without a limit,
01:35because I have Afro as a traditional and also urban and contemporary.
01:39Across Rwanda, young dancers are using tradition and fusion styles
01:44to tell their own stories and build a future through creativity.
01:49Onore's style becomes a thread from memory, discipline and identity,
01:54between what was and what is becoming.
01:57For the first thing I do is understanding the mood, where my mood level is.
02:03After understanding the mood, I try to find a song which is going to be totally 100%,
02:09almost fitting the mood I am, so I can go without trying to fit in the song.
02:17Many of Onore's students are young people who grew up with hardship.
02:22Dance for them means structure, healing and a place to belong.
02:27And to me that just shows that dance is, and movement is inevitable and it's elemental.
02:34Onore's teaching style has a very distinctive quality.
02:37He underscores that movement doesn't have to be perfect.
02:41Messy movement is also a form of progress.
02:43So I really appreciate his supportive teaching.
02:49Onore was officially recognized by UNESCO,
02:52placing Rwanda's dance heritage in the global spotlight.
02:56For me, I think one thing I have as a sport and as a Rwanda dancer is about
03:01respect the origin and also try to keep it alive.
03:05I try to modernize in a way people will try to fit in the world they have in.
03:11I think one thing people really get wrong about Rwanda's traditional dance style in Oore ones,
03:17is they think it's only ceremonial, which is really different from what it really is.
03:23But also one thing, Rwanda's traditional dance can also be through storytelling.
03:27When you go back to history, you're going to find it was most of the ways Rwanda was giving message
03:34through what's happening in the kingdom,
03:36what had been doing after the war.
03:39So it's not only about ceremony or like what we see many times in wedding or other ceremonies.
03:46Dance in Rwanda hasn't always been seen as work.
03:50Today, teaching, performances, digital platforms and collaborations are opening new paths for dancers to build sustainable careers.
03:59One, other two, other three, other four.
04:02I started dancing when I was just a kid, just for a hobby.
04:06When I grow up, I try to do research like how people may get money from dancing.
04:12When I was here in Akigari, I used to do a video with my friend.
04:15It was just a video, not the intention of like, anyway, want something, but the owner of the song,
04:21he texted me on Instagram after I posted the video and then asked me,
04:24yo, the video is nice and now I'm going to add it on a challenge which was going on
04:29and the winner, we're going to get the money.
04:32After one week of promoting and the video, everything, we finally get to be the winner.
04:37Honore proves that in Rwanda's Growing Dancing, a single social media post can open doors
04:43from challenges to real paid opportunities.
04:47It's one of the biggest festivals which will happen.
04:52We're already planning for it.
04:53And then it's a subject we're going to, working on, it's going to be about love.
04:57So we already have the choreography, we have the concepts.
04:59I think it's going to be interesting.
05:01Also going to add something on my career, on my CV, and then I'm looking forward for it.
05:08If heritage is power, Afro-Hybrid is a way to carry it.
05:13In Norway, it's really powerful.
05:14It's not about just dancing because when you're dancing, you give me a story.
05:18In Rwanda, dance is more than just a performance.
05:21It is a means of unity, especially for a generation born after the genocide.
05:27And even if the path as a dancer is difficult, everyone here knows that movement is a way to rise
05:33up.
05:34So you try to do.
05:35So I think it's really powerful.
05:35I'm not sure that movement is going to be so powerful.
05:36So wherever I go, I'll find the pandemic.
05:36I will win that, one of you, I'll be so happy.
05:36This is where I'm going to go.
05:37So you try to put the world down.
05:37And you're going to build your dream.
05:37I will add everything.
05:37I will be a little.
05:37The death of your journey.
05:37I'm explaining to my family.
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