National Arts Fest dance explosion
28 June 2006
A gypsy femme fatale and a real life Don Juan are among the figures vying for attention in an explosive dance programme at South Africa's National Arts Festival, which takes place in Grahamstown from 29 June to 8 July.
The irresistible gypsy heroine immortalised in opera takes centre stage in Carmen the ballet, choreographed by Veronica Paeper with the full Cape Town City Ballet company and the Johannesburg Festival Orchestra conducted by Naum Rousine. Georges Bizet's original music for the popular opera has been arranged for the ballet by Michael Tuffin. The principal dancers are Marianne Bauer and Coert Grobbelaar, alternating with Lara Turk and Lee Fennell.
The famous heart surgeon and ladies' man, Professor Christian Barnard, is the central figure in I of Heart by
choreographer Samantha Pienaar. Setting Craig Morris amid a troupe of nine female dancers, she contemplates the nature of compassion. A great scientist makes world history in his efforts to save human lives while remaining apparently oblivious to the hurt he is causing on an emotional level. The spoken text is drawn from Barnard's own writings.
Another plea for compassion, this time for the environment, comes from choreographer Gregory Maqoma in his Beautiful Us. He performs with six dancers from the Vuyani Dance Theatre Company and, together, they articulate the extensive vocabulary of African dance into a new aesthetic syntax. Sequences of capoeira (Afro-Brazilian martial arts dance) will set pulses racing.
An adrenaline rush is promised by Standard Bank Young Artist Award winner Hlengiwe Lushaba. She celebrates the dancer in every body (including highly unconventional bodies) with a new conflagration of her powerful choreographic imagination.
Emerging talents
Fresh offers a mixed grill of short pieces by four sizzling young choreographic talents.
Lucky Kele's Bosol (Prison) comes out of his experiences running dance classes at Boksburg prison. Nelisiwe Xaba's Plasticization is a razzamatazz of startling imagery taking the mickey out of our artificial world.
In Quicksand, Siyanda Duma confines four dancers in a claustrophobic space with their arms bound. They communicate via awesome footwork and a closed circuit camera. Mlu Zondi uses dance, text and live video in Silhouette for a whirl with male/female interactions and the clichés of African masculinity/femininity.
The Healing Dance is an Eastern Cape collage staged by Skin Sipoko with artistic direction by Daluxolo Papu and Xolani Sibuta. The evocative sounds and movements are drawn from the ancient rituals of many tribal groupings. The 40-strong company of performers includes veterans
of the art and young spiritual dance apprentices.
More dance treats feature on the festival's Fringe programme, where established names and newcomers help to make the National Arts Festival the preferred African winter destination for adventurous dance lovers.
The festival is sponsored by the Eastern Cape government, Standard Bank, the SABC, the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund and the National Arts Council.
Business & Arts South Africa has also made a special grant to the festival this year. The major portion goes to the artists on the festival fringe, the rest to festival newspaper Cue, the Youth Audience Development Project and the Art-Walk Meander Map.
For more information, see the related articles on the right - and visit the National Arts Festival website.
SouthAfrica.info reporter
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