Background

Contemporary African dance is a new and surprising development in arts in the Eastern Africa region. It has sprung up within the last 5 years. One might expect contemporary African dance to be a natural follow on from the strong traditional dance roots of East African communities. But until the work of Opiyo Okach in Nairobi, Mionzi Dance Theatre in Dar-es-salaam, Footsteps in Kampala and Adugna in Addis Ababa, there has not been such a consistent, focused effort to re-define the parameters and purposes of African dance in contemporary African society, and in a global context.

As a new art form, contemporary African dance faces a number of challenges. Among them:
· Defining the form for an African and global context.
· Expanding and developing its artistic- contemporary dancers and choreographers- and structural resources- working spaces, financial and technical means.
· Creating new choreographic work with a stable shelf life, that can be toured locally and abroad.
· Building local/regional bases of audience support.
· Developing human resource capacity in administration, production and technical areas, required for the support of dance.

In recent years, opportunities for Eastern African dancers to interact among themselves and with others have greatly increased. Companies and groups in the different East African countries today know that ‘they are not alone’. In the past 2 years alone, East African dancers have crossed regional and international borders with unprecedented frequency, for the purposes of conducting and/or participating in dance encounters, touring or attending dance festivals.

Through its artistic partners Gaara Projects and the Centre for International Theatre Development, the Godown has over the last two and a half years facilitated regional dance encounters and links between East Africa and outside, in particular with Europe and Russia. The East Africa Dance Platform is another of significant dance events convened for the region by the Godown Arts Centre to develop dance. Rather than a performance oriented classic festival the concept of the platform is to seek an organic evolution of the local and regional dance workshops and encounters organized over the past three years taking into consideration artistic development and audience building. It will involve approximately 50 participants, including choreographers, dancers and administrative & technical directors and trainees. Local and international writers and photographers who follow dance will be invited to participate as observers.