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One Man Dancing
One Man Dancing is a harrowing tale of integrity and endurance. Based on the true story of a young actor growing into artistic maturity in Uganda during the murderous regime of dictator Idi Amin, the action moves in and out of Africa through bizarre encounters with mysterious CIA-like figures and the international world of theatre. Trying to maintain his personal sanity while remaining true to his art, Charles collides constantly with political violence and natural disaster. It is a capricious fate that bounces him from Uganda to Jamaica, from Scandinavia to Canada and back again through this novel of risk and freedom, of political mystery and ultimately through the unravelling of this myth about theatre and faith.
“One Man Dancing is a sympathetic account of Uganda’s troubled post-colonial history and a paean to the heroic figures who struggled to resist the regime and retain their own dignity during tumultuous times while Idi Amin was descending more deeply into barbarism. At the level of history, it’s a chilling story, but it’s also a fascinating study of the role of art in addressing political realities. Patricia Keeney’s account of this struggle is brimming with Eros and Thanatos—the violence, intrigue, passion and deadly love-muddle—inevitable bi-products of living in this world.”
—Gary Geddes, author of Drink the Bitter Root and The Resumption of Play
“This moving story of an African dancer whispers rage in every line. A handbook for future generations interested in African politics, it is also a story of love and the theatre company that inspired it as well as a story of home-grown African dictators and their armies. Though set in the Uganda of Idi Amin, this book is about butchers all across the continent who are unable to face Truth. It is a story of power walking out of a theatre in fury. As an artist who has personally experienced torture, as an African man, I can say that this Canadian woman, Patricia Keeney, has miraculously told only the Truth in this wonderful novel about art and artists.”
—Debebe Eshetu, Former Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, and Founding President of the Union of African Performing Artists
“Africa's theatrical secrets are starting to get out and we are all the better for it. Uganda's myth-based Abafumi theatre company toured the world in the 1970s to international acclaim while Idi Amin tried to face them down at home. This clash is at the centre of Patricia Keeney's fine new novel based on the true story of one of the company's leading performers and his struggles to survive. Well worth-reading for those who know Africa and its theatre and especially good reading for those who are meeting it for the first time.”
—Prof. Emmanuel S. Dandaura, President, Nigerian Centre, International Theatre Institute
“One Man Dancing is a sympathetic account of Uganda’s troubled post-colonial history and a paean to the heroic figures who struggled to resist the regime and retain their own dignity during tumultuous times while Idi Amin was descending more deeply into barbarism. At the level of history, it’s a chilling story, but it’s also a fascinating study of the role of art in addressing political realities. Patricia Keeney’s account of this struggle is brimming with Eros and Thanatos—the violence, intrigue, passion and deadly love-muddle—inevitable bi-products of living in this world.”
—Gary Geddes, author of Drink the Bitter Root and The Resumption of Play
“This moving story of an African dancer whispers rage in every line. A handbook for future generations interested in African politics, it is also a story of love and the theatre company that inspired it as well as a story of home-grown African dictators and their armies. Though set in the Uganda of Idi Amin, this book is about butchers all across the continent who are unable to face Truth. It is a story of power walking out of a theatre in fury. As an artist who has personally experienced torture, as an African man, I can say that this Canadian woman, Patricia Keeney, has miraculously told only the Truth in this wonderful novel about art and artists.”
—Debebe Eshetu, Former Artistic Director of the National Theatre of Ethiopia, Addis Ababa, and Founding President of the Union of African Performing Artists
“Africa's theatrical secrets are starting to get out and we are all the better for it. Uganda's myth-based Abafumi theatre company toured the world in the 1970s to international acclaim while Idi Amin tried to face them down at home. This clash is at the centre of Patricia Keeney's fine new novel based on the true story of one of the company's leading performers and his struggles to survive. Well worth-reading for those who know Africa and its theatre and especially good reading for those who are meeting it for the first time.”
—Prof. Emmanuel S. Dandaura, President, Nigerian Centre, International Theatre Institute
296 pages, Paperback
Published October 13, 2016
4 people want to read
About the author
Patricia Keeney
13 books4 followersPatricia Keeney is a widely published Canadian poet, novelist and critic with translations of her work published in France, Mexico, China, Bulgaria, South Africa and India among others. She is the author of ten books of poetry, and a picaresque novel entitled, The Incredible Shrinking Wife (1996). In addition to her creative work, she is also a Professor of English and Creative Writing at York University in Toronto where she offers courses on Canadian Literature, Women in Literature and related subjects and conducts regular workshops in poetry and mixed genre writing. She makes her home in a 150-year-old log house an hour north of Toronto.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 8, 2020
More people should know about this book. I chanced upon it in a wooden residential street library box, otherwise I would not have known it existed. Although based on a real man's life and world events, it is enirely novelistic in form.
The first chapter is out of place chronologically and only makes sense much much later - don't let it confuse you or throw you off. After it the book takes you straightforwardly through time for the journey of Charles Tumwesigye as he develops from a sheltered child in an Ugandan village, to a young man offered the chance to dedicate himself completely as an artist member of a sophisticated and subversive Ugandan dance theatre troupe that travels all through Europe and beyond.
If that journey alone had been allowed to continue unbidden, his story would have been worth the read (especially as told by the psycho-emotionally gifted and evocative Patricia Keeney). But Charles' fate as an artist is intersected by the rise to power of Idi Amin and unfolds accordingly.
What happens over the latter parts of the story and his life continued to compel me, ultimately leaving me with many important topics to meditate on that I am still considering months later. Possibly they will be soul cud for my duration. Charles is a real person anyone might pass on the street - he resides in my city no less - with an incredible but largely unknown story. How many others have such hidden tales? The many questions his story/the novel elicits about art and artists I won't include here for the sake of not introducing spoilers. I will say it taught me both new ways we take them for granted and new reasons to value and adore them.
The first chapter is out of place chronologically and only makes sense much much later - don't let it confuse you or throw you off. After it the book takes you straightforwardly through time for the journey of Charles Tumwesigye as he develops from a sheltered child in an Ugandan village, to a young man offered the chance to dedicate himself completely as an artist member of a sophisticated and subversive Ugandan dance theatre troupe that travels all through Europe and beyond.
If that journey alone had been allowed to continue unbidden, his story would have been worth the read (especially as told by the psycho-emotionally gifted and evocative Patricia Keeney). But Charles' fate as an artist is intersected by the rise to power of Idi Amin and unfolds accordingly.
What happens over the latter parts of the story and his life continued to compel me, ultimately leaving me with many important topics to meditate on that I am still considering months later. Possibly they will be soul cud for my duration. Charles is a real person anyone might pass on the street - he resides in my city no less - with an incredible but largely unknown story. How many others have such hidden tales? The many questions his story/the novel elicits about art and artists I won't include here for the sake of not introducing spoilers. I will say it taught me both new ways we take them for granted and new reasons to value and adore them.
July 1, 2020
This book is a glimpse into one man’s soul as he experiences his tumultuous life. It is compelling and beautifully written. I highly recommend it.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews