What the visit is
Dancing Pots is a chance to spend a few hours with a settled, forward-looking Batwa community — the group the Government of Rwanda refers to as historically marginalised people. The members of Abatigayubuke have taken the two things their community is best known for, pottery and performing arts, and turned them into a living rather than a curiosity.
The Batwa are a small minority in Rwanda and have long sat at the bottom of almost every social and economic indicator — literacy, land ownership, housing, access to clean water. Abatigayubuke was set up in part to change that locally: the visit generates income directly for the group and raises its standing in the surrounding community. That is the point of the activity, and it is worth understanding before you arrive.
How a visit runs
You get a short introduction to Batwa history and present-day circumstances before reaching the village, so the visit itself is not spent on background. Arrival is marked with a welcome dance. From there you spend a couple of hours in the potters' hands — the clay is dug and prepared locally, the pots are built without a wheel, and you are expected to try it rather than watch.
The performance half is the part most visitors remember. The repertoire includes dances, songs and a set of instruments you will not see anywhere else on a Rwanda itinerary. The visit closes with a small ubusabane get-together and an open conversation about Batwa life, what has changed and what has not.
Where it fits in an itinerary
Kanama sits on the Rubavu–Musanze road, which makes Dancing Pots one of the easiest cultural stops to slot in. It works as a half day from a night on the lake at Rubavu, or as a break on the transfer between Volcanoes National Park and Lake Kivu. Pair it with the Kivu Coffee Tour for a full day out of Rubavu.