Abatanguha Crew: A dance brotherhood forged in Kimisagara

Inside the large multi-purpose hall at the Kimisagara One Stop Youth Center in Kimisagara, a dance brotherhood has been taking shape for the last one year. This loose grouping of dancers call themselves the Abatanguha Crew – and it’s basically a unity of dancers from the various dance crews in Kigali. Every day, from about 9:00 am to noon, the dancers converge here to perfect their dance moves, fraternise, share ideas, meet new dancers, and share trends. When I visited the group during their training session on Tuesday morning, the venue was teeming with about twenty five young people dressed for dance. These included the established dancers who form the core of the Abatanguha Crew, teenagers and members of the general public who are passionate about dance and want to learn it from here. The Abatanguha Crew. (Moses Opobo) According to Armani Kiwembe, one of the founders of the crew, youth empowerment ranks highly among the reasons for starting the crew. For this reason, the dancers actively welcome and train interested persons free of charge. “All that you need is to first explain to the crew why you want to learn dance. Then we invite you to our training sessions for a few weeks to see if you are passionate about it,” Kiwembe explains. Started in Gisenyi The idea for the crew can be traced back to Armani Kiwembe and Abdul Ndagijimana, two dancers credited for popularising the B-Boy dance form in Kigali. “I and Kiwembe started B-Boy in Rwanda in 2011 while staying in Gisenyi,” explains Ndagijimana, a co-founder. After perfecting their art, the duo moved to Kigali in search of better career prospects. “Were settled in Nyamirambo but didn’t find a place to train from. Then we heard of this place (Kimisagara Youth Center),” Ndagijimana explains. They were lucky to be granted permission to the facility, and immediately embarked on practice. They also put the word out to other dancers in Kigali, and slowly the numbers begun swelling. “We used to practice from here but we did not have a proper brand name to call ourselves. So we decided to come up with a name that we would use as people that met and practiced from here. We wanted something local and something with meaning – hence Abatanguha,” explains Kiwembe. “Abatanguha means people who are willing and ready to do something,” explains Poppin’ Chris, one of the crew’s pioneers and who specialises in the popping dance. Abdul Ndagirijimana (top) makes an acrobatic maneouvre with Armani Kiwembe (below). (Moses Opobo) The two may have come from Gisenyi with so much knowledge, experience and confidence, but one major hurdle faced them while in Kigali: “People did not know us, however much we tried our best to promote the name Abatanguha Crew,” explains Kiwembe. “Then someone advised us that if we wanted to gain visibility and support, we needed an aspect of corporate social responsibility –we needed to find a few children, especially street children and teach them, so we did just that,” he adds. “Gradually people started to know about the crew, and they would ask where we performed from, and we would tell them Kimisagara Youth Center.” In June this year, the crew organised a small event called Ejo Heza specifically to promote that name. It was a dance competition that involved African dance, popping, and B-Boy. Winners received certificates because the crew did not have money to give out. Luckily for the crew, the large training facility is availed to them free of charge. In turn, they pay back in kind, staging free performances at the youth center whenever it has guests or an event or community outreach activity. “People can book us for performances as Abatanguha Crew, because we offer a range of packages including dance, acrobatics, B-Boy, contemporary dance, and African dance,” explains Kiwembe. A brotherhood thing The core of the crew is made of four people; B-BoyArmani Kiwembe, B-Boy Abdul Ndagijimana, Poppin’ Chris, and B-Boy Killing Machine. Killing Machine also works with the Mashirika Performing Arts and Media Company as an actor and dancer. He hails from Uganda. “I came to Kigali in 2013. That time, I was already working with the Break Dance Project at Sharing Hall in Nsambya, Kampala, which is also involved in youth empowerment activities, just like Abatanguha,” explains Killing Machine, whose real names are Alex Heskey. “Armani and Abdul were the first people I met while in Rwanda and they told me they have a crew. What inspired me to work with these guys is that they are social and they wish well for everyone. I didn’t know anybody in Rwanda apart from them. They took me into their home and even fed me in those difficult days,” he explains. Alex Heskey aka Killer Machine (right) takes a new member through some dance drills. (Moses Opobo) “I had to join them because I like to do social work to empower the youth because this art of break dance is very beneficial and attractive to the youth. When they see a dancer on stage, spinning on their head, they also get inspired to do the same. So dance is the message I use to positively influence my fellow youth.” says Poppin’ Chris: “I met Armani and Abdul from Gisenyi and they were good B-Boys, while I do the popping dance. So we decided to come together and put up something big – a battle, because we found that it’s lacking in Rwanda. Every dancer fears to express what they have. We met a guy from Canada called Ali and he also encouraged us to do something, although we already had it in mind.” “We are doing this for the youth, because they need something constructive to occupy their time, otherwise they will easily resort to anti-social behavior and criminal activity. We just try to inspire the youths into the arts, because art is something good,” he concludes. The crew is at its busiest during school holidays, when many teenagers and students descend upon the venue to partake of the free dance classes. Further still, the crew has established itself as the first port of call for visitors to Rwanda who may be interested in dance, and indeed, when I visited, there was a splattering of tourists in the dance sessions. “Any B-Boy and any dancer who wants to join Abatanguha Crew is welcome because Abatanguha is unity and we want to grow and change people’s perceptions in Rwanda to feel hip hop,” explains Ndagirijimana, adding: “We want to forge a unity of all dancers and dance crews in Kigali instead of fighting each other. We want to build and to change hip hop in Rwanda by welcoming everyone who is interested into our crew.” Even with the strides made so far, challenges still abound for the crew: “In this business, gigs do not come by every day. You work without knowing when and from where the next job will come from. This is a big challenge for those of us who have to make a living from dance. In a week you can get about one or two gigs,” explains Kiwembe. The other problem is that the Rwandan public has not yet fully warmed up to dance as an art form, which in turn makes it difficult for the crew to get corporate sponsorship. “We need a promoter who can hook us up with event organisers so that we can showcase what we have. We don’t mind giving free performances, all we want is to show people what we are capable of, so that next time they can hire us.”

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Abatanguha Crew: A dance brotherhood forged in Kimisagara