Rujeko Dumbutshena
Assistant Professor, School of Theatre & Dance
Please join the Center for African Studies in welcoming Rujeko Dumbutshena as Assistant Professor in the School of Theatre and Dance. Rujeko is a Zimbabwean-born dancer, pedagogue, and performer who specializes in neo-traditional and contemporary African dance. She comes to UF from University of Washington, Seattle where she was an Assistant Professor in dance. Prior to that, she lived in New Mexico, where she taught at University of New Mexico and Central New Mexico Community College. For sixteen years Rujeko was instrumental in designing and directing African drum and dance camps, which brought together invited artists and students for intensive workshops and performances. She has performed on and off Broadway in the Tony award winning musical, Fela! In addition to her extensive chorographic and performance experience in university and arts scenes.
Her role at the School of Theatre and Dance is two-fold—teaching techniques of African dance and creating a piece for the annual production of Agbedidi—a celebration of African dance cultures and traditions. As an instructor at UF, she plans to invest in the university’s rich tradition of West African dance forms by teaching Guinean and West African dance techniques. Her work as an instructor has been supported by the larger shifts in the culture of dance education, which now give greater recognition to dance styles that were historically put to the margins. Rujeko’s research centers on the intersections between gender, power, and ritual. She uses these themes to inform her choreography and performance. She welcomes collaborations with unexpected disciplines, recognizing the unique position of dance as a reflection of life on a daily basis, and how this positionality interplays in interesting ways with other disciplines’ schools of thought and analysis.
Be sure to keep your eye on upcoming news of the fall semester performance of Agbedidi, which will feature her choreography and pedagogical influences.