Scooping the only dance invitation in South Africa, Flatfoot
Dance Company, recently travelled to Zimbabwe to perform at the Intwasa Arts
Festival in Bulawayo. They shared the performance platform with the
internationally renowned Zimbabwean dance company Tumbuka Dance Company.
Tumbuka and Flatfoot have a long shared history which saw them first meet at
the inaugural JOMBA! in 1998. As artistic director of Flatfoot, Lliane Loots
says: “travelling to the Intwasa Arts Festival is a dream come true for us. We
are always seeking to connect with dancers and artists in our African
continent, and over and above this – for this trip - we are sharing the stage
with Tumbuka; it is a true privilege”.
Flatfoot’s invitation came to Loots for her to bring the 10th
anniversary work that she made with Flatfoot in March 2013, Last Thoughts. A brooding dance theatre
work, Last Thoughts is collaboration
with spoken word poet Ian ewok
Robinson and is a type of zeitgeist moment of memory, history and future for
both Flatfoot but also for all those involved in the work. Alongside the six
resident Flatfoot dancers, this collaboration also features two of Durban (and
South Africa’s) best breakdancers, Preston “Kayzo” Kyd and Byrone “Bizzo”
Tifflin.
Seamlessly fusing the BBoyz style of breaking with the
lyrical flow and energy of Flatfoot’s
inimitable style, Loots’s Last Thoughts
is a type of Hip-Hop opera that takes time to honour the legacy of ambient
influences like Allen Ginsberg, Bob Dylan, and most importantly a long time
working relationship with ewok.
Referencing Ginsburg’s 1954 poem Song and his call to “return to the body where I was born”, Loots’s
Last Thoughts is, finally her own
unfailing belief in the dancing body as the only political truth that we can
ever know. As she says, “Last Thoughts
is a rather dark title but it echoes all sorts of recollections around personal
and political rites and re-membering; and for me this is the missing governance
and silent voice of our age. I am hoping that a Zimbabwean audience will find
resonance with it as well”.
Flatfoot spend a week at the Intwasa Arts festival in Bulawayo
performing and teaching dance workshops in a meeting of skills, styles and
African connections.
Flatfoot Dance Company acknowledges the very generous
support of the Swiss Arts Council, PRO HELVETIA, who funded their transport to and from Zimbabwe.