Renowned Rwandan choreographer Sherrie Silver and poet Malaika Uwamahoro on Tuesday, June 21, teamed up to entertain delegates who attended the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) in Kigali. The CBF is one of the events organised on the sidelines of the ongoing Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) which is underway in Kigali. It was the first time the duo worked together, an experience that Uwamahoro described as ‘amazing’. “It was amazing to be in the same room with Sherrie because she’s more than a dancer, she has an incredible work ethic and is good at managing the audience inside the venue,” she said. The performance, held at Kigali Conference and Exhibition Village (KCEV), was a combination of poetry and dance that saw the two actors combining their talent on the same stage, with Uwamahoro performing a poem while Sherrie and his dancers produced choreography on the other side. It is a performance that began with Sherrie Silver picking up a phone call inviting her to attend the CBF in Rwanda in June and immediately replies, in an exciting tone, that she would cancel all her appointments for the Summit. Sherrie told The New Times that she produced her choreography script with the aim of welcoming people to make them feel represented in the music styles that she and her team of dancers presented. Her performance is inspired by music genres that hail from various countries represented at the summit like electronics which is popular in the United States and Australia, dancehall that is mostly liked by Jamaicans and the African Afro beats and Amapiano. “I just wanted to welcome people to CHOGM and make sure everyone was represented in the music styles we choreographed” said Sherrie. Meanwhile, Uwamahoro’s poem urges people to make the best out of their money and skills because it is always useless when it’s not used to put things into action. “I prepared my message to inspire people to turn words into action,” she said. The poet, now based in the United States, revealed that she prepared the performance, thinking of ways to inspire the audience to go out there and do what they do best to change the world and make it a better place.
