Dorothée Munyaneza / Ben LaMar Gay – Version(s)

In Version(s) Dorothée Munyaneza brings together poet Christian Nka and musician Ben LaMar Gay. Through text, music and movement they explore masculinity, memory and identity in a hybrid performance about life experience and multiplicity. 'How long does it take to become a man?' In the run-up to Version(s) Christian Nka posed that question to Dorothée Munyaneza, who is now explicitly focusing on masculinity for the first time. In her new production Munyaneza - a familiar face on the programme for several years now - brings about an encounter between two men. On one side stands poet and teacher Christian Nka, a living legend in the north of Marseille. Once a celebrated boxer, but equally renowned for his social commitment as a street educator. With the light-footed agility of a boxer, Nka reflects on his life, his troubled relationship with violence and his struggle with societal expectations. Beside him stands Ben LaMar Gay, composer and multi-instrumentalist from Chicago and artistic ally of Munyaneza. Text, music and movement form a hybrid space where memories, bodies and stories touch each other. 'There are different versions of me', Nka admits. Is that an uncomfortable confession or a claim to multiplicity? What does it mean today to be a man? To be a man of colour? What do we pass on, and how do we share our life experiences with each other?