Life on Earth

March 5, 2007

Traditional Rwandan Dance of COOPAC

Filed under: photography — gary @ 8:56 pm
One of the perks of traveling with the coffee buyers from Cooperative Coffees on their tours of prospective producer cooperatives is the introduction to the local song & dance of each region. It might seem as just another form of the customary “wine & dine” that happens across the globe in business transactions, but in my experiences, both in Rwanda and in Bolivia, it always rings more genuine then not.I will have audio of the dance online in the next few days. NOTE: Sorry, my audio has been lost to digital corruption. However, Marc Becker was on the same trip and has posted some video of the COOPAC performance on YouTube.

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More images can be viewed at: Rwanda: Intore Traditional Dance

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In Rwanda, we were treated to the four century old tradition of Intore song & dance. It was performed by the Cooperative Pour La Promotion Des Activities-Cafe (COOPAC). The performers were all producer members of the cooperative. Above, Idyagu Gregory leads during a portion of the Intore dance that lasted for almost an hour.

Below, a the drumming section, the a line of feet of the dancers as they kick up dust. Further down, members of the community observe the show and at the bottom, Cooperative Coffees’ Monika Firl enjoying the collective portion of the performance. 7847416_detail550.jpg

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Visiting coffee buyers to the coffee cooperative COOPAC (Cooperative Pour La Promotion Des Activities-Cafe) are entertained with the Intore dance troupe comprised of producer members of the cooperative. COOPAC produces some of Rwanda’s, and increasingly recognized as some of the world’s, best coffee that is grown in the country’s volcanic Lake Kivu region in the west.

6 Comments »

  1. These photos are awesome. Totally awesome. I was there and didn’t see things quite like this. Love it!

    Comment by Lucia — March 7, 2007 @ 8:21 am

  2. Hi there. I followed you over from Lucia’s site. Great photos!

    Comment by nancy_dancehall — March 7, 2007 @ 5:37 pm

  3. Great photos! You really captured the energy there.

    Comment by Kevin Reed — March 13, 2007 @ 10:15 pm

  4. i love the pictures

    Comment by Anamaria — June 20, 2007 @ 6:33 pm

  5. I love the picture you should put the music too.

    Comment by Anamaria — June 20, 2007 @ 6:35 pm

  6. having come to US, these pictures really took me back home, i felt the rythm at heart! thanks

    Comment by Rwibasira — September 12, 2007 @ 1:48 am

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