BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

Fresh from its launch in 2010, Vusi Makanya's Dusi Dance Company is set to begin 2011 with an intense and beautiful new full-length work, Body of Knowledge created especially for the confines of the campus-based Square Space Theatre. For this season Makanya joins forces with fellow dancer and choreographer Sifso Majola.

Dusi Dance Company made waves at the 2010 Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival with Vusi Makanya being awarded one of the coveted Jomba! New Works grants. His company flew onto stage in a flourish of technical complexity in a work that was not afraid to tackle issues around faith and religion

With the same level of artistic courage, Makanya sets out to present his newest offering, Body of Knowledge. This 50-minute work, tackles the somatic experiences of innate body knowledge as we journey through birth, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and finally old age and death. Inside the framework of this inevitable journey of our lives, is Makanya and Majola's hard-hitting look at mother-child relationship, at love relationships in a time of HIV and Aids, and the very fabric of the visceral connection of skin to race and gender.

At the core of this work is Majola and Makanya's search for an African contemporary dance technique and style that tackles the ongoing interest in issues of African culture and identity. This is a work that speaks not only to a cultural body and mind connection, but also asks where the heart fits into all our journeys. Makanya has said, "As we navigate our lives, we are left with only the body as our most true indicator of who we are and where we fit in; this dance work is about some of these very personal life passages for me as a dancer and as a black South African".

Body of Knowledge has performances at the Square Space Theatre from February 17 to 19 at 18h30 with earlier performances on February 17 and 18 at 12h20. Tickets R35 (R20 students and scholars) available at the door 30 minutes before the performance. More information on 082 622 4005.