FNB DANCE UMBRELLA 2009

Ntombi Gasa and Sifiso Majola to be represented at annual festival which celebrates 21 years of new Contemporary Dance.

FNB Dance Umbrella 2009 will run for a period of 22 days from February 22 to March 14, 2009, in various venues: Wits Theatre Complex, Braamfontein, Dance Factory, Market Theatre and Market Theatre Laboratory in Newtown and the UJ Centre for the Arts in Auckland Park.

The Dance Umbrella opens on February 25 at 19h00 with the world premiere of Soft by Tracey Human in the Wits Downstairs Theatre. The secular and stage world – deconstructed – of the Showgirl…an icon of pleasure and leisure, she is a social institution that symbolically creates the boundary between the good woman and the bad; it features Gregory Vuyani Maqoma and PJ Sabbagha. The second performance is on February 26 at 19h00.

Also on opening night is a work from Germany presented by the Goethe-Institute, Johannesburg, Hell on Earth by Constanza Macras at the Wits Theatre on February 25 at 20h00 with a second performance on February 26 at 20h00. Macras’ new work is about adolescence; about hormones out of whack, shyness and longing, but also all of those practical things in life. For example what school one should go to and what career will one pursue? Five years ago Macras presented Scratch Neukölln at the newly-opened HAU with the dancers of her company, Constanza Macras/DorkyPark, and kids from Neukölln. It is a crazy, great party with lots of hip hop and singing.

On February 27 and 28 at 19h00 there is a new work from Juanita Finestone-Praeg called The Return at the Dance Factory. Nine reflective (a)musings on the Haiku form in three movements: (1) emptiness (2) silence (3) light. The Japanese Haiku is regarded as the shortest form of poetry with its 17 syllables apparently creating the perfect length of one outgoing breath ... this distilled economy and reduction of the Haiku form becomes a source for these nine performance experiments with silence and sound, movement and stasis, body and light. This collaborative exchange is devised as a series of interactive conversations between image, idea, light, the body and the trapeze...

Gregory Maqoma presents a new work Skeleton Dry at the Market Theatre on February 27 and 28 at 20h00. Skeleton Dry has been influenced by the Skeleton Coast, Namibia - an untouched, lifeless terrain. The myth is…'once one gets there they will not return'. It is also said that, though it is uninhabitable, there is evidence of habitation (footprints and fossils) from the distant past. This evidence spurred Maqoma’s artistic inclination onto a path of research with regard to human decomposition to the point where flesh is no more…and subsequently no more bones, but fossils.

A new work by Robyn Orlin, Walking next to our shoes… intoxicated by strawberries and cream, we enter continents without knocking, will be presented at The Market Laboratory on February 27 and 28 at 21h15.
The Mary Fitzgerald Square is the place to catch Tuning into the Void, choreographed by Fabrice Guillot and Genevieve Mazin on February 28 at 12h00 and 17h00. This is a 40-minute piece for three dancers, where the stage extends to public space. Scenography and choreography is by Fabrice Guillot, with the friendly complicity of Geneviève Mazin and dramatist Jean-Philippe Lucas Rubion.

Tracing is a collaboration piece by Joey Chua Poh Yi (Singapore) and Mcebisi Bhayi (South Africa) which looks at connecting Singapore and South Africa and takes place at The Dance Factory on March 2 and 3 at 19h00. Bhayi, a South African Xhosa man who swears by his customs, and Chua, a Singaporean woman who can barely speak her Chinese dialect Hakka, decided to start a dialogue. After months of letter-writing and intimate sharing of childhood memories, their exchange shifts to the present as they come face-to-face, finding both common ground and contrasts in each other's dance backgrounds, personalities and physicality. In this tracing of the minds and bodies of one another, they are hoping a new dance vocabulary will emerge from their joint creative journey.

Next on the programme is a Triple Bill at the Wits Theatre, March 2 and 3 at 20h00 featuring the Tami Dance Company (Nimrod Freed) from Israel, and the South African Ntsoana Dance Company. The two works being presented by Tami Dance Company are Window: a look into the soul, each time through a different window and On Guard No Guard, where the company puts a question mark on the obvious. Fast, short dance sequences charged with emotions. The third work on this programme called Same But Not Different, is by Sello Pesa. The process of repetition, its results and variations are experimented with in Same but not Different. A universal daily cycle is repeated and results in a transformation of these acts; whether male or female, their essence remains the same.

Sifiso Kweyama will premiere Watermelon at the Dance Factory on March 4 and 5 at 18h30. Watermelon seeks to bring the told and untold stories of unemployed people to light through dance. What if the heart was a watermelon that needed water twice a day to keep it living? What happens if the heart does not get watered for two days, four days, two months? The inside of a watermelon moulds if it doesn’t get water and the heart is a watermelon that is thirsty for water.

Inkomati (Dis)Cord is a new collaborative work from Boyzie Cekwana (South Africa) and Panaibra Gabriel Canda (Mozambique) which can be seen at the Wits Downstairs Theatre on March 4 and 5 at 19h30. Inkomati stems from the then “historic” accord between the South African Apartheid government’s and Samora Machel’s non-aggression pact in the 1980’s. Unkomati is a river crossing South Africa, Swaziland and ultimately spills into the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. It crosses lands, people and lives, creating trajectories and pathways. With this creation, the artists will trace a journey of crossing differences, revealing how we look at ourselves and each other.

At the Wits Theatre on March 4 and 5 at 20h15 is a Triple Bill featuring: (Un) Spoken Conversations choreographed by Mzansi Productions. This piece explores the concept of communication through the dance medium. (Un)Spoken Conversations allows the dancers to express emotions which are usually suppressed in our daily lives. The work consists of eight movements choreographed by various members of Mzansi Productions: Marc Goldberg, Tanya Futter, Casey Swales, Craig Arnolds, Mari-Louise Basson and Nicole McCreedy. The second work is Blink – Bling, Blackout, choreographed by Songezo Mchilizeli. This work aims to provide and focus on how intrinsic access is to life today. Discourse is emphasized upon the importance of success. The third work is Under Move 1524 choreographed by Mamela Nyamza ...Deathless face alight with your smile, you asked me what I suffered. Who was my cause of anguish, Who is now abusing you? Who is treating you cruelly? ... For they seem to me to have love each other in their own way, she that of women, he that of men.

On March 5 at 20h00, there is a preview of the FNB Gala programme at UJ Centre for the Arts at 20h00. FNB once again celebrates its long-standing partnership with the Dance Umbrella by presenting a selection of works taken from what has been presented over the past 21 years of the festival. This year, the programme will include: Back, conceived and created by PJ Sabbagha in collaboration with Lulu Mlangeni and Dada Masilo; Beautiful Me choreographed by Gregory Maqoma; Love And Other Four Letter Words choreographed by Dada Masilo; Catching The Bird choreographed by Marie Brolin-Tani with Moving into Dance Mophatong and Chu Chu Magala choreographed by William Mmambo, a hip hop/ Pantsula celebration.

Montage Dance Films, a selection of local and international dance film that has been programmed by Gerard Bester and Jeannette Ginslov, will be shown at the Dance Space on March 7at 17h00.

A Mixed Bill can be seen at The Dance Factory on March 7 and 8 at 19h00 and 14h00 respectively. The programme includes new works from Alan Parker, Mdu Mtshali, Ntsane Mopedi, Gustin Makgeledisa, Tladi Moletsane, Tshegofatso Tlholoe, William Lekarapa, Melusi Makhanjane, Carly Dibokoane and Lucky Kele.

On March 9 and 10 at 19h00, there is a double bill programme featuring Moving into Dance Mophatong with Viiiiite and Besame Mucho choreographed by Michel Kelemenis (France), at The Wits Theatre. Viiiiite, or how to stage the evanescence of a danced movement. Here we’re in the condensed, visionary domain of an abstract dance. More than any other form or expression, this dance deploys its force by sharing the present. Its impact is measured from the standpoint of a subtle trace, the residual sensation after the performance of having been for a moment vulnerable, and therefore affected. However, it is only a question of visible elements that fade away, of movements that vanish as soon as they are danced. Further exploring the symbolic and dramatic virtues of a kiss, Michel Kelemenis created Besame Mucho in 2004 which builds upon themes of unrequited desire, love frustration and solitude. In conjunction with the popular and well-known song Besame Mucho, the dance oscillates between compulsion and refusal, at times with the music, at times in contradiction with the simple yet eternal message it communicates. Michel Kelemenis worked closely with the new generation of MIDM dancers to transmit his piece with an added African touch. Besame Mucho is the result of a close relationship based on exchange and complicity with MIDM.

Peter van Heerden returns to the Dance Umbrella with a new work called Out Of The Eater Came Forth Meat Out Of The Strong Came Sweet, which can be seen on March 9 and 10 at 20h15 at the Wits Downstairs Theatre. This work is an interrogation of male identity. The work is created in and around research into the shifting historical perspective of the landscapes of South Africa from the colonial past to the democratic present. The performance work seeks closure and solace, and the building of other, new, reconciled identities.

A Triple Bill at the Dance Factory on March 11 and 12 at 19h00 features: Unravelling…. Carmen by Dada Masilo. Masilo intends to explore the different facets of Carmen’s personality. Carmen was considered to be a heartless monster, but underneath this, there is also tenderness, vulnerability, passion and more…; Feel The Presence choreographed by Lawrence Ncube -what can dance offer when confronted with extreme violence? On the edge of a wounded memory, this second part of a triptych evokes the sexual abuse suffered as a child. Probing the silence, chasing off resignation, the piece draws material from past experience using strength of a choreographic assertion. The third piece is Je Suis Chien choreographed by Gaby Saranouffi. Je Suis Chien deals with sexual tourism. Living with this sad and terrifying situation, this piece is an exploration of the animal instinct inside the human being.

Zebra is a new collaboration between PJ Sabbagha from The Forgotten Angle Theater Collaborative (RSA) and Ivan Estegneev from Dialogue Dance Company and School (Russia) , which will be at the Wits Theatre on March 11 and 12 at 20h00. The project will bring together men working in contemporary dance and physical theatre. The all male company will explore and challenge myths and preconceptions around the role and identity of men involved in contemporary dance and the arts. Zebra will delve into the both the private and public spaces that form part of our representations and expressions of male sexuality and sexual identity.

To be Deprived of One’s Nature is a Terrible loss is a collaborative work that will be performed by Ntombi Gasa, Julia Raynham, Noxolo Rushualang and Amara Gasa in the Wits Downstairs Theatre on March 13 and 14 at 19h00. Most global states and legal systems maintain a two-party sexual system; this is in defiance of nature, for biologically speaking there are many gradations of sexes.

The final programme is a Mixed Bill at the Wits Theatre on March 13 and 14 at 20h15. Invocation - choreographed by Luyanda Sidiya, this work is inspired by how much we know about the knowledge of the past which determines were we going, the idea is to go back to the inception of our practices within our traditions, cultures and work within our art-form, which often regulates and dictate where we are and heading with our lives as artists, individuals, families, communities and as a nation; Motho Mang – Ke Mang - choreographed by Itumeleng Mokgope it features dancers from the South African Ballet Theatre. The inspiration of this work comes from the “stacking” or displaying of vehicle tyres in piles at the side of the road as often seen in local townships. This work is an exploration of the symbolic meaning of the tyre and what it reflects on life in this country. The last work is Akundlela Engayi Ekhaya choreographed by Sifiso Majola. When you come to a point of no return because of previous unresolved challenges, some other challenges come into play. A decision is then contemplated and the decision you take will determine your future and you will have to live with it, with no regrets.

Other highlights of the Dance Umbrella 2009 include the opening of a new home for Dance Forum, the DANCE SPACE. Dance Forum will be based here from March 2009. Events to be held at the Dance Space during FNB Dance Umbrella 2009 include Face- to-Face discussions with selected choreographers and dancers; a photo exhibition; Dance film screenings; networking events; discussions and debates. Books and other dance material will also be on sale. The Dance Space will definitely be the main space to meet and network during the FNB Dance Umbrella 2009! Visitors will also be able to enjoy refreshments and snacks while browsing through the brochure to decide where to go. Address: Dance Space (old Moving into Dance Mophatong studios), 1 President Street, Newtown. Opening times: 09h00 – 22h00. Dance Umbrella festinos are invited to the inauguration of this dance-dedicated Space - for further information please call 082 570 3083.

The Stepping Stones programme offers a vibrant, exciting and interesting variety of dance works on February 22 and 28 and March 1 from 10h00 onwards at the Wits Theatre. The Young Choreographers Residency Programme: from March 3 to 14 sees young choreographers from all over South Africa in Johannesburg to enjoy a series of workshops and master classes as well as all the programmes in the Dance Umbrella. The programme is funded by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

The Gauteng MEC Awards for Contemporary Choreography and Dance 2008 is a prestigious event to be held on March 8 at the Wits Theatre where the award winners for 2008 will be honoured. Those wishing to attend this event should call 011 482 5615 for further information.

The FNB Dance Umbrella 2009 has been made possible with assistance from First National Bank and the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund. Other partners include The French Institute of South Africa; The French Consul South Africa, Culturesfrance; Business and Arts South Africa; The Goethe-Institute of Johannesburg; and the Gauteng Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture. Media partner: ClassicFeel Magazine. Tickets for the FNB Dance Umbrella available at the door or booked at www.ticket.co.za or 087 806 5001 and prices range from R60 to R100. Concessions/block bookings and subscription tickets are available. For further information on 011 482 4140 / 011 482 5615 or e-mail danceumbrell@artslink.co.za

The Dance Umbrella 2009 hot-line for updates and programme schedules is 072 703 9332 - visit www.artslink.co.za/arts