After its highly successful Eastern Evening production last year, Durban’s Rampage Dance
Company returns to the Playhouse Opera stage on April 24.
The Eastern Evening
2015 offers another big-stage show full of fun and creative dance items.
Conceptualised and
presented by Rampage Dance Company Artistic Director Iqraam Rahim, The Eastern Evening (TEE) is a
professional platform that brings together Durban’s professional,
semi-professional and aspiring performing artists with a goal to promote dance
development in KZN. It is a tailor-made process that seeks to give students the
ultimate dance experience.
“Operating from a sincerely educational space, the project
promises skills development, character building and an expressive outlet, all
within a carefully nurtured environment and atmosphere that promotes healthy
competition through a sense of achievement,” says Rahim. “Furthermore, we
recognise that in order to embrace a progressive South African culture, it is
imperative that we not only engage with students on the surface level, but that
we also start creating a dialogue with them. To give them a space in which they
can voice their opinions and speak back to their own cultural identities, is
crucially important to us.”
TEE is thus a multi-faceted project built on the foundation
of cognitive and holistic development; and targeted at breaking the future
generations out of a “digital trance” and walking them step-by-step back to
reality… the reality of social contact and responsibility, the reality of
teamwork and achievement, the reality of culture and community, and the reality
of contributing to a greater good.
The competition sees various schools both in the private and
public sector workshopped by International choreographer Kshitij Vaishnav.
Being a dance practitioner for almost 20 years and working at the heart of the
Bollywood industry with many renowned Bollywood names, Vaishnav leaves no stone
unturned in directing our scholars and preparing them to compete for the grand
prize valued at R20,000. His success in Canada, Chicago and South Africa allows
scholars a chance to be nurtured to perform in the global dance market.
Through this intense process, students interact with the
“who’s who” of the Durban performing arts community, and are allowed a chance
to engage with them on a more personal level.
Iqraam Rahim built his reputation in the Durban art scene
with his unique amalgamation of dance styles and presenting them within a
framework of Bollywood. It is this artistic integrity that places Rampage
Dance. A company at the spearhead of progressive change in the translation of
dance, Iqraam believes that The Eastern
Evening initiative will act as a catalyst for progressive change in the
field of arts and culture in Durban.
Audiences can expect an evening of high energy, colourful
and sometime comedic dance pieces punctuated with the occasional
thought-provoking nuance, and promises to entertain the whole family …
grandparents included!
This year, TEE places Rampage Dance Company’s first student
Yuthika Nagessur (20) in the spotlight reserved for local celebrities. Yuthika,
or Yuthi as she is more fondly known, follows the impressive Indian
folk-inspired act by Kajal Bagwandeen in last year’s production. Yuthika has
been a part of Rampage since its inception in 2008 and is no stranger to the
local dance scene. She will take on an Iqraam Rahim inspired piece, along with
a squad of Durban’s most talented, reputable and multi-racial performers
dedicated to pleasing the diverse Durban audiences.
Rahim will also be presenting a contemporary inspired
Bollywood piece dedicated to the children of war, strongly titled a peace of mind. This piece will be
performed by students of the Rampage Master Class.
The winners of last year’s competition, Crawford College
North Coast, join Rampage in a quest to take dance to rural communities. These
students humbly offer their valuable matric time to spread love through dance.
Vaishnav is most fond of this phase of development as it allows him to take a
part of South Africa home, while at the same time feeding the knowledge of
dance to communities that are most hungry for it.
The Eastern Evening
will be staged in the Playhouse Opera at 19h00 on April 24. Tickets R120 and
R150 available at Computicket 0861 915 8000 or online at www.computicket.com. For more information
call 071 237 2900 or e-mail theeasternevening@gmail.com
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