(Reviews
from the artSMart team currently in Grahamstown at the 2016 National Arts
Festival)
(Pic by Val Adamson)
Visually
captivating dance theatre work. (Review by Verne Rowin Munsamy)
Every July,
Durban artists make the 15-hour journey to Grahamstown to join hundreds of
shows that make up the National Arts Festival. We come here to share our
histories, our stories and our souls through our various art
forms. This year the ’11 days of amazing’ selected Flatfoot Dance Company as
one of the opening features on the main festival.
Flatfoot is
located in the heart of Durban and the award-winning, internationally travelled
company are best known for their riveting pieces of dance theatre that often tackle
ideas of one’s personal memory swaddled in political and social history; days like these... is no different.
This dance
theatre work places itself in the theatre making style of Verbatim Theatre,
where (almost like a documentary) testimonies are gathered and heard and, in
this instance, spoken through the dancing body. Choreographer Lliane Loots has established
herself as a dance theatre practitioner who is always questioning and
challenging social and personal politics and in days like these...she has challenged the dancers of Flatfoot Dance
Company to delve deep into their own personal histories and reveal the
challenges and struggles that they have overcome or had to live through.
The original
six resident Flatfoot dancers and collaborators on the project: Sifiso Majola
(who is strong and confident), Tshediso Kabula (who didn’t dance because he is
in London on exchange), Sifiso Khumalo (who is polished as usual), the ever
beautiful Jabu Siphika, the captivating Julia Wilson, the poised Zinhle Nzama
and, later in the process, Njabulo Zungu (who is simply remarkable at such a
tender age and brings a fresh dynamic to the company), reunite to embark on
this journey to speak their histories and their struggles.
Pooling
their stories and finding common ground to dance on, the six dancers whisk us
into their stories with creative passion and soothing, hypnotic rhythms. The
dancers are, as always, passionately in control of their own stories, as was
the vision of this verbatim styled dance theatre piece. In an attempt to
showcase a multi-layered piece with multiple narratives we bear witness to
stories of love, loss, motherhood and even the brutality of and the shame
attached to the rape of a homosexual man.
All these
lived experiences are beautifully woven together by the videoscapes made by
award-winning Durban theatre and film maker, Karen Logan, who captures the
reality of these lived histories through imaginative and thought-provoking ways.
The tone of this dance piece and this search for unspoken histories is further
enhanced by the subtle yet inviting lighting design created by Wesley Maherry.
“Flatfoot
dancers are hungry dancers”and their hunger to unearth truths is revealed sensitively
and charismatically through days like
these... . Durban stories are spoken with firm vigour through this dance
theatre work at this year’s NAF. Ben Okri says that, “Great eras are eras in
which great stories are lived and told. Without fighting, stories have won over
more people than all the great wars put together ... Africa breathes great
stories”.
Lliane
Loots, Flatfoot Dance Company and all the collaborators have made this a great
era at the National Arts Festival with this visually captivating dance theatre
work. - Verne Rowin Munsamy
(For more
information on the National Arts Festival click on the banner advert at the top
of this page)
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