Press

LA REVUE SPECTACLE (October 2020) by Yves Kafka “If there was a reason to stand up and say how a singular form deeply moves, one would find themselves evoking performer and conceptual designer, Wanjiru Kamuyu, and the embodiment of her project.(…)How can one not be won over by the intelligent foresight projected with so much conviction and sincerity?”

INFO CHALON (February 2020) by SBR “The marriage of red as costume, a dress, a second skin, that constructs and deconstructs it’s gestures, breaths as an extention of the body, Wanjiru Kamuyu, with this sacral dance, offered to the audience of l’Espace des Arts was a moment of total beauty. As a shared evening of works, Wanjiru Kamuyu with “Portraits in red”, last Tuesday, seduced the Scène nationale Chalon-sur-Saône’s audience. Adorned in red, disappearing under an undulating fabric that tranformes, breaths and beats like a heart the pulsations of life, Wanjiru Kamuyu allows her female body to be birthed before the eyes of the audience.”

DANSE CANAL HISTORIQUE (April 2017) by Gérard Mayen (…)Kenyan Wanjiru Kamuyu, with an already forged international career, including the USA, attracted a small public triumph, in a “Spiral” of a solo, stirring a gigantic piece of fabric at times like a prosthetic mingled to her own hair, to straps of her dress, to her partial nudity, in a sacral and incarnated journey of metamorphic tenacity. This power of soloist conviction well echoes the festival’s opening by Germaine Acogny in “Elue noire” choreographed by Olivier Dubois.

THE EAST AFRICAN (January 9, 2016) Valid dreams of Kenyan artistes casting their nets abroad by Kari Mutu

LA DEPECHE (October 31, 2015) Une soirée de danse éclectique by Alexandre Guerin

CHARMAINE WARREN BLOGSPOT (September 28, 2015) by Charmaine Warren, “DanceNOW’s “ENCORE” was a hit! To celebrate DanceNOW’s 20th season, the lineup was a robust baker’s dozen who presented works made from 1996 to today.  Wanjiru Kamuyu in an excerpt from “At the moment of encounter”, and Nicole Wolcott in “Sans Todo” offered contemplative solos…” 

BROADWAY WORLD (September 16, 2015) DANCENOW’S Closing Night by Olga El “Last Saturday I had the pleasure of punctuating my night at Joe’s Pub for DANCE NOW– an innovative dance festival celebrating its 20th year, featuring brief dance vignettes on a bite size stage. The evocative combination of fluidity and stillness in WKcollective / Wanjiru Kamuyu‘s excerpt of “At the moment of encounter” felt like a shamanistic journey into the darkness of the psyche. The poetic use of control over her sculpted body felt eerie and sacred.”

ANN MURPHY, Dance Critic “Performed at Lisser Theater in Oakland, California in May 2015 while in production residency, Wanjiru Kamuyu’s arresting new work “At the moment of encounter” is a private voyage of identity as well as an eloquent investigation into the individual body as a repository of shared and often conflicting dreams, histories, politics, and languages. Dancer Yao Dang engaged the prowling lights by Cyril Mulon and the tangled, globe-like sculpture by Jacqueline S. Norheim as partners on an enigmatic journey, underscoring Kamuyu’s gift for giving form to the ineffable while keeping mystery alive.”

MOLISSA FENLEY, New York choreographer of Molissa Fenley & Company, Guggenheim Fellow, Fellow of the Am. Academy in Rome, Fellow of the Bogliasco FDN, Danforth Prof. of Dance, Mills College “Wanjiru employs the particular characteristics and talents of Yao Dang (“At the moment of encounter”, solo/2015) while propelling her into a work of challenge and delight. The choreography creates a continually changing perspective for the viewer. The dancer is asked to enter into a world of an inner vision that is crafted and framed for an exterior viewing and experience”.

DANCE STUDIO LIFE MAGAZINE (September 2015 issue) Unequal Rights, The asymmetry of gender roles in dance (4 page article by Ann Murphy

DANCE TEACHER MAGAZINE (December 2014 issue) From stage to studio (1 page feature article by Rachel Caldwell

EVENING ECHO (August 14, 2014) Theatre Nights by Jo Kerrigan

IRISH TIMES (August 16, 2014) In dance class, you are often made to feel you must apologise for your body (1 page feature article by Arminta Wallace)

BUSINESS DAILY AFRICA (July 10, 2014) Wanjiru creating dance waves in Paris (2 page feature article by Bill Odidi) Good Morning Kenya (Channel KBC – air date July 1, 2014, 8:45a) Dance on Detroit, A Maggie Allesee Celebration of Dance (Detroit Public TV – WTVS – air date June 17, 2014, 7:30p and August 12, 7:30p) Copperfoot Award (November 6, 2013 presented by Wayne State University Dance Department) Dance Panorama (October 27, 2013 by Roberto Warren) MetroArts Channel 56 Detroit Public TV – PBS (Episode 204, aired Saturday July 13, 2013 at 5:30 p.m.) University of Michigan, Freshman Touring Company Guest Artist Residency (March 2013 by Lena Oren Dance Panorama (November 27, 2012 by Megan Drabant)

DAILY NATION (July 29, 2012) How Fela play opened doors for Kenyan girl (2 page feature article by Bill Odidi)

DAILY NATION (August 21, 2010) BALLET A lifetime of dance and the joy it brings to a restless ballerina (2 page feature article by Bill Odidi)

LE FIGARO (November 24, 2006) by Marion THEBAUD Joséphine Baker revient à Paris

Translation : “At her sides, the troupe takes on the African ballet where explodes the invention of choreographer Wanjiru Kamuyu.” (musical “Looking for Josephine (Baker)” by renowned French director Jérôme Savary premiering at Théâter National de l’Opéra Comique, Paris, France)

The Village Voice (April 14, 2006) The Power and the Beauty Dancing, humanity in a fine new space by Deborah Jowitt, “Skinny Wanjiru Kamuyu holds down center stage, and they poke good-humored fun at the smallness of the butt she’s shaking so determinedly. “Little big mama,” they concede.” (‘Batty Moves’ choreography by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women)

New York Times (April 25, 2005) by Jennifer Dunning, “Wanjiru Kamuyu’s “Spiral” opened the evening with a powerful and thought provoking trio of strong women…”

Gay City News by Eva Yaaasantewa “You might prefer dance that’s abstract, cool, less dramatically expressive, less driven by social and history concerns, but when you are mere feet away from Kamuyu’s undulating muscles watching sweat bead and glisten like silver on her scowling Kenyan face, I defy you to remain totally aloof.” (performance with Urban Bush Women)

The Plain Dealer by Wilma Salisbury “Give Your Hands to Struggle”, the prayer like solo was eloquently performed by Wanjiru Kamuyu, the smallest and most fluid dancer in the ensemble of large, powerful women.” (choreography by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of Urban Bush Women)