(Iega
Jeff!)
As part of the Jomba! 2013 festival, Flatfoot
Dance Company participated in a performance and dance education collaboration
and exchange with Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre from Chicago in the USA.
In what became a true meeting of dancing
hearts and spirits, both sides made a huge commitment to see if the connection
could continue. Deeply Rooted’s style that sings and moves the jazzy memory of
the African American experience, found huge resonance in Flatfoot’s own style
which is often located in artistic practices that tell South African untold
stories.
Feeling like both companies would deeply
benefit from further sharing of both technical training and performance
aesthetic, Iega Jeff (founder and artistic director of Deeply Rooted) comes to
Durban to spend one month working, teaching and exchanging with Flatfoot.
Iega, a native New Yorker and graduate from
Julliard, now living and working in Chicago, says: “I want my dance and
artistic work to grow truer, more focused, and relevant over time. My art is
born out of human examination, and my desire to communicate authentically
informs what I create. For me dance is a perfect catalyst. It reveals the inner
voice, reflecting who we are and who we strive to become.”
Flatfoot welcome Iega to Durban from February
20 to March 18, when he will teach company classes for Flatfoot and work in a
vast array of Flatfoot youth dance education and development programmes.
“Most especially a month long programme
with our Add Flatfoot programme that sees 16 especially skilled youth from
KwaMashu, Newlands East and Umlazi, participate in a distinctive programme
created for them by Iega during his time in Durban,” says Lliane Loots,
Artistic Director of Flatfoot. “What remains particularly profound is the
willingness of a choreographer and dancer of Iega’s international stature
giving up four weeks of his very busy artistic work life to spend in Durban
sharing his vision and work with us!”
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