Catherine Nakawesa is an eccentric and acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and writer.
She was first exposed to contemporary dance in 2001, while a student of Electrical Engineering at Makerere University Kampala. On completing her degree in 2005, she chose to pursue her passion for dance.
Catherine has since honed her art at various institutions including: L’Ecole Des Sables, Senegal (2011/2013), CDC La Termitiere Ougadougou (2012), University of Cape Town (2009), Laban, London (2008) and Kampala Ballet & Modern Dance School (2005). She’s trained and performed in Traditional African Dance, Contemporary/Modern Dance, Classical Ballet, Choreography, Contact improvisation, Contemporary African Dance, Germaine Acogny’s technique, hip hop and more recent techniques such as flying low & Gaga.
Based in Kampala, Uganda, her quest is currently on “applied dance,” a term she’s coined to refer to the concept of making dance relevant to everyday living and global development. She’s the Artistic Director of Beautiful Feet Dance Company, which has mostly engaged in projects with female dancers; she is co-founder of Clay Dance Company, which runs programs to mentor young people through dance, and she’s the Creative Director of Viva! Dance, a program of Viva (U) Ltd, a health and wellness company which employs dance, among other tools, to help people experience holistic living.
Catherine is passionate about collaborating with artists from diverse backgrounds. Her artistic career spans countries including Senegal, Burkina Faso, South Africa, Tunisia, Belgium, Austria, Israel, and South Korea where she’s performed, trained, collaborated with several artists and taught workshops. In her work, she relentlessly seeks to find new ways to move, create, communicate, and inspire.
Catherine is currently engaged in research and creation of a new dance, photography, and film project, BBUSSU: an artistic perspective on the culture of street children in major cities across the world.
Catherine was awarded a residency at Handshake 302 in China.