SPARTACUS OF AFRICA

New South African National Dance Trust to stage spectacular production in 2011.

A new South African National Dance Trust (SANDT) has been formed to promote, preserve and support the art form of classical ballet and contemporary dance throughout South Africa.

The SANDT is the brainchild of South African choreographer and director Veronica Paeper, with Robyn Taylor and Mike Bosazza as the other two Trustees. It has become increasingly evident that there is a dire need for sustainable funding for grand-scale dance productions.

The first project being co-ordinated by the SANDT is Veronica Paeper’s Spartacus, which will be re-choreographed and staged as Spartacus Of Africa. This exciting production involving in excess of 100 dancers drawn from all dance and dance training companies in South Africa, will open in Johannesburg in February 2011, and will then be performed in Durban, Bloemfontein, The National Arts Festival, Grahamstown and Cape Town. Suitable township venues are being sought to broaden the South African dance audience. The orchestras which will play for the production are the Johannesburg , KwaZulu-Natal and Cape Philharmonic Orchestras.

“A grand scale Spartacus seemed an impossible dream until I wondered if it would be feasible to mount a production using dancers from as many companies across the country as I could link together,” said Paeper. “From this idea grew the concept of the South African National Dance Trust, which aims to educate the general public nationally on the wonderful art forms of ballet and dance. To achieve the aims of the Trust the trustees needed to embark on a project and so, after many discussions with all sorts of people, the concept of Spartacus of Africa evolved,” she added.

“We have approached most of the ballet and dance companies including South African Ballet Theatre, Jazzart, Cape Town City Ballet, Cape Junior Ballet, Dance for All, Bovim Ballet, Mzansi, Capa and The Dance Factory as well as independent dancers, and their enthusiasm for the project is most encouraging,” said Paeper.

The legend of Spartacus is based on an uprising of Roman slaves and was first written as a ballet for the Soviet Union and performed there in 1956 by the Kirov ballet. It is basically the story of a man taken into slavery, humiliated and deprived of his dignity, for whom freedom is an ideal so precious that he is prepared to die for it.

“The music is that of Aram Khachaturian, and the story has been adapted slightly for an African setting. The famous pas-de deux with his wife will remain untouched,” said Paeper.

The SANDT aims to increase awareness and widely inform the South African public about dance, and provide the opportunity for national, grand-scale, dance productions to be performed bi-annually in all the major cities and arts festivals in South Africa. SANDT seeks to involve and collaborate with all the professional dance companies and dance training organizations, orchestras and theatres to achieve its aims, and offers them unique creative and performance opportunities as well as financial benefit. Particular encouragement will be given to organizations that foster performers from previously disadvantaged backgrounds.

The vast majority of people, including schoolgoers who are considering future careers, are unaware of the opportunities offered within the performing arts. For this reason the SANDT will open up the process from the very beginning of writing a ballet (in this case re-writing a ballet), designing sets and costumes, making the costumes, making the sets, lighting the production, setting the ballet to the music, learning the choreography, and staging the ballet, to all aspects of marketing, publicity, front-of-house management, booking seats, stage-management and finally the performance.

“We plan to offer the public a chance to participate in the process by attending talks, demonstrations and classes so that they can see the workings of a large-scale production,” said Bosazza. “We believe that the more people know about ballet and dance, and the process involved in staging a ballet, the more enjoyment an audience will derive from the performance. Doors can also be opened for young people to discover areas of the arts which had previously been known only to the interested few,” he added.

SANDT will focus strongly on education, incorporating all avenues of dance (performance, music, visual, design, technical and arts management) to students studying the various art forms, as well as inviting and encouraging new audiences to theatre productions to appreciate and enjoy the wealth of talent that South Africa has to offer. SANDT will provide professional support and cohesive input in order to stimulate local talent and creativity so that dance in South Africa can take a prominent place on the world stage.