Scooping the only dance invitation in South
Africa, Flatfoot Dance Company travelled to neighbouring Zimbabwe to perform at
the Intwasa Arts Festival in Bulawayo in late September. 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! Contemporary Dance
Festival in 1998. As artistic director of Flatfoot, Lliane Loots said before
they left: “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 Last Thoughts, the 10th
anniversary work that she made with Flatfoot in March 2013. A brooding dance
theatre work, Last Thoughts is a 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”.
Flatfoot spent a week at the Intwasa Arts
festival in Bulawayo, performing and teaching dance workshops in a much
anticipated 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.
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