NAF DAY #2: JULY 1, 2012

artSMart Editor Caroline Smart reports from Grahamstown at the National Arts Festival

Today dawned - and stayed - a beautiful sunny day which made it a highly enjoyable occasion for the hundreds of daytrippers who attend the festival over both weekends. The glorious blue winter sky of Grahamstown, as seen through the skeletal branches and twigs of trees that have lost their leaves for the winter, offers a breathtaking art form all of its own.

This morning, the media were treated to a thank-you breakfast, courtesy of The National Arts Festival, Business and Arts South Africa and the Cock House Restaurant which has hosted the media launches for many years.

Festival CEO Tony Lankester reminded those present that the festival offered audiences a first taste of the exciting programme to come during the French Season in South Africa, which runs until November this year.

A reciprocal programme between the French and South African governments, this season is aimed at promoting cultural and other exchanges between France and South Africa. It explores the common interests between the two countries which include arts and culture, science and technology, business and investment, education, sport and tourism.

The focus of the French Season in South Africa at the National Arts Festival is on music, dance and diverse forms of theatre including several collaborative projects between French and South African artists.

One such production is Pudoqie Acide/Extasis presented in association with the Centre Choéregraphique National de Montpellier Languedoc-Roussillon. Choreographed by Mathilde Monnier and Jean-François Duroure with music by Kurt Weill and Bernard Herrmann, it represents a new staging of the choreographers’ first two joint productions Pudoqie Acide and Extasis. The idea was to reclaim and impart the essence of the creations with two new dancers – Sonia Darbois and Jonathan Pranlas – and reasserts a commitment to unbridled youth and to a passion for raw existence.

With music by Kurt Weill, you know that you are in for a satirical cabaret style debate with the norm becoming the outlandish but tinged with exquisite sensitivity when you least expect it. And somewhere along the way will be barbed comment on the Hitler regime.

The audience becomes somewhat alarmed on being told that that there will be a 20 minute interval but the show will still end at its published time. This wasn’t actually the case, which necessitated the hasty departure of many audience members – like me – who would have loved to have stayed to express exuberant acknowledgement to the dancers at the end. However, this is festival and people are tied to tight schedules.

Sonia Darbois and Jonathan Pranlas appear in both pieces which are different yet similar. In Pudoqie Acide, they appear in kilts (for some reason I couldn’t comprehend) topped with long-sleeved black T-shirts over white vests and the traditional braces associated with kilts.

In both pieces the dancers go through a process of self-revelation. In Pudoqie Acide, they are seen in beautiful silent seamless connected movements – thinking as one, moving as one, loving as one. As the relationship progresses and they peel off layers of clothing, they seem to need to re-introduce themselves to each other. The relationship becomes combative, filled with jealousy and domination.

The reason for the interval break was the setting-up of the lighting rigs for Extasis which provided more dramatic lighting effects for the performers who are now dressed in beige overcoats covering a long skirt of frilled net. As the piece progresses, they strip down to their jackets and bare legs and seem to want to rekindle an association with the freedom of those whirling skirts.

This was a beautiful dance work reflecting male/female relationship on a number of levels. However, I’m still trying to work out how kilts fit in! – Caroline Smart