Jacques Gatete is from Rwanda.  He lives in Louisville, Kentucky with his wife and newborn baby.

Jacques started dancing when he was a child.  He grew up seeing his parents sing and dance.  Dance was always part of his life. He received the opportunity to learn the dance deeply when he went to high school, where he met a professional dance teacher who taught him how to dance, and the meaning of the dance.  After six years of high school life and dancing, he became one of the best dancers in the school.  Jacques then started his dancing group, and he won national competitions in dance.  Later, he was awarded to join The National Ballet of Rwanda called Urukerereza during Festpad ( Festivale Panafricaine de Dance in 2008).

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Jacques continued to be selected in the National Ballet to represent Rwanda in different festivals outside of the country.  He won different competitions with the National Ballet of Rwanda.  In 2010, he continued his studies at the National University of Rwanda in the Faculty of Art and Sciences.  During his university studies, he joined the Inyamibwa Cultural Group, which was one of the best Ballet groups at the university. During his time with that group, he participated in different competitions organized by the university where many universities came from East and West Africa to compete.  One of the competitions was held at the Arts Azimunts International Arts Festival in Butare, Rwanda.

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Jacques continued dancing alongside his studies, and performed in different events such as, weddings, and other shows.  In 2012, he was recruited by Inganzo Ngari Cultural Group based in the capital city of Rwanda, Kigali, where he received the opportunity to join the best and number one team in the country.  After graduating from his studies, he was privileged to teach dance at Agahozo Shalom Youth Village, where he became the founder of Imanzi Kwisi Hose Cultural Group based in the south province of Rwanda, Butare.

Jacques came to the USA in 2014, where he continued performing in weddings and other Rwandan cultural events.  In 2019, he received the opportunity to teach Rwandan Traditional Dance at Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, where he taught teachers from different dance studios in Brooklyn during preparation of “Dance Africa Festival,” the biggest Festival organized by Brooklyn academy annually.

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Jacques loves dancing, and he dances with passion and integrity.  He would like to pass all of his skills to all people from different backgrounds. Dance without boarder!