Prince Totto Théogène Niwenshuti

Multidisciplinary artist, dancer, and choreographer
Rwanda

Prince Totto Théogène Niwenshuti is a multidisciplinary artist, dancer, choreographer, actor, and international coach. He got an MA degree from Wits School of Arts in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is a peace activist, passionate for arts and performance for social change. He was Head of Dance Department of the University Center for Arts and Drama at the National University of Rwanda (NUR) between 2002 and 2004. He has worked for the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Sports in Rwanda as a dancer and assistant-choreographer between 2004 and 2008. In 2005, he went in Senegal/West Africa to attend Jant-bi the famous International Center for training in Traditional and Contemporary African dances. He has toured East Africa, performing, researching, teaching, and speaking under his OYA-Great Lakes Peace Campaign. Totto was born and grew up in Rwanda, in the Great Lakes region. He survived genocide and other crimes against humanity that ravaged the region in the 1990s. Arts, mainly dance, music and poetry, were key to his attempts to deal with the trauma and consequences of the violence he experienced and witnessed. Totto was recently selected as one of the 2018 beneficiaries of a creative residence grant by The Center for the Less Good Idea.