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 lived experience and multiplicity. 'How long does it take to become a man?' In the lead-up to Version(s) Christian Nka posed that question to Dorothée Munyaneza, who is for the first time explicitly focusing on masculinity. In her new production, Munyaneza – a familiar face on the programme for several years – 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 pedagogue. With the light-footed agility of a boxer, Nka reflects on his life, his troubled relationship with violence and his struggle with social 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 awkward confession or a claim on 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?