Motion with a Cause College of the Atlantic dancer plans performances to help AIDS orphans in his native Zimbabwe

When the parents of Tawanda Chabikwa gave him his name, they may not have dreamed how far he would carry it. In the Shona tribal language of Zimbabwe where he was born, “Tawanda” means “we are now many.” It celebrates the strength and continuity of large families in a country where infant mortality looms and where the AIDS epidemic has orphaned nearly a million children.

Tawanda is 20 years old. He paints. He’s a graphics designer. He dances. He has a marketing plan. He also has a vision. A sophomore at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, the “many” in his name points not only to talents he is cultivating and professional skills he is honing, but also to ways he wants to reach and serve the stranded children of his country.

Last summer, he started Project Ndini Wako (pronounced “endini wako,” it means “I am yours”), a nonprofit organization designed for grass-roots promotion and sustainability of the arts with the mission of helping Zimbabwe’s AIDS orphans. “I call it social entrepreneurship,” Tawanda says. “This is not about what I can become. It’s to take what I can do now and make use of it.”

Next Tuesday and Wednesday nights, Tawanda is taking what he can do to the Criterion Theatre in Bar Harbor, where he and a troupe of dance students from the college will perform “Ngano Nhatu: 3 African Tales” at 7:30 p.m. All proceeds go to Project Ndini Wako to begin supporting 10 young AIDS orphans his organization has identified with the help of a retired schoolmaster in Gutu, the rural region where Tawanda spent holidays with his grandparents.

This is where his maternal grandfather practiced herbal medicine and his grandmother raised 14 children. It is also where Tawanda herded cows, witnessed ceremonies of drumming and dance, and listened to stories of his ancestors – first from his grandmother, then, when older, from his grandfather. Their lives are roots he draws on for inspiration. “My grandmother didn’t go to school,” he says. “But she’s seen a lot. Her life has gentleness and docility. Mystery, too. I always think how giving she is. What she’s doing is not just for herself.”

This may be why all three tales Tawanda and his troupe will present – “Zvikara” (“Beasts”), “Mbira Player” (the mbira is a finger-piano believed to have powers of tapping into other worlds) and “Chameleon and Lizard” (which Tawanda will dance solo) – turn on questions of transformation and identity. Because he didn’t just herd cows in the countryside.

He also lived in the capital city of Harare with his parents (his mother works for Zimbabwean AIDS nongovernmental organizations), his older brother and younger sister, and “on-and-off” cousins that stayed with them when four relatives died of AIDS. He took ballroom dancing taught by the British when he was 11 and won a rock and cha-cha competition (“I can still bust out the waltz if I have to,” he says). He went to boarding school miles from home, received a scholarship for accomplishment in science, and attended college in Hong Kong. There, an art teacher from New Zealand (Chris Hill, another powerful mentor) encouraged him to paint and, in addition to teaching aerobics and taking karate, he continued dancing.

Before choreographing a recent rehearsal for next week’s performances, barefoot and dressed in sweats and a black T-shirt, Tawanda describes what draws him to dance and how he hopes it will help him do what needs to be done for the country he “fell in love with long before I left.”

Dance, he says, is a process where “anything can happen. And I like process more than outcomes. Dance can make you happy. It can shock you. These African tales we’re doing are not natives dancing around the fire.” He pauses. “But there is something genuine about African movement – it’s so primal. It can speak to anyone. We’re dancing because we’re not talking. Dance can release frustration, become a way to figure things out. I’m not someone who wants to drive in and out of the private bubble where my own life is nice. I want the whole country to look good – to be green. Dance can be a good place to start. It touches the rhythm inside.”

So many possibilities. So true to his name. So useful.

Performances of “Ngano Nhatu: 3 African Tales” will be at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, and Thursday, March 3, at the Criterion Theatre, 35 Cottage St. in Bar Harbor. Tickets are $7 each; all proceeds go to HIV-AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe. Please call 288-3441 for further information.

United World Citizens and Bar Harbor’s Cafe Bluefish are sponsoring a benefit dinner 5-7 p.m. March 2-3, before the dance performance. The cafe, at 122 Cottage St., will open at 5 p.m. All proceeds – not just profits – go to AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe. Call 288-3696 for reservations.