Forced to
listen .. never have the arts been more needed! (Review by Verne Rowin Munsamy)
The Centre
for Creative Arts, under its new leadership and in conjunction with UKZN and
other international funders, opened the 18th Jomba! contemporary dance experience last night.
The Sneddon
Theatre, nestled on the UKZN campus played host to two international dance
works: from Switzerland- MAMAZA, choreographed
and danced by Ioannus Mandafounis and Fabrice Mazliah and from France- Calle Obrapia#4, choreographed and
performed by Anne Reymann, Corinne Pontana, Roland Rocha, Jean-Antoine Bigot
and Anne Le Batard of Compagnie Ex Nihilo.
The
festival opens, as it always does, with a speech by Artistic Director, Lliane
Loots. She is able to rally and inspire artists as she paints the political
landscapes of South Africa, explains the epidemic of cultural bombs and asks us
to decolonise our minds. Loots, in her wisdom, urges dancers and artists to ‘fight
against the death of our resistance’ as is our obligation. And with these
sentiments of speaking our history through dance and movement, we watch as
these two international acts re-envision what it means to dance and deconstruct
their own narratives and history and pay their in way to come share these
experiences with us.
MAMAZA deconstructs technique, and skill to bring us
a fresh take on dance performance. The 2 dancers underscore the piece with
monologues and duologue that start in a frenzy, moves through silence and
surprises us with strength and balance. It is astonishing that the dancers
speak the entire soundtrack while demonstrating their aged technique. In almost
like a Comedia Del Arte style, they describe their encounters, recount their narratives
and narrate the experiences. Dressed in shorts and T shirts, they casually
weave and manoeuvre their way around and on a plastic-covered dance floor,
which made for some fantastic mirror reflections. I felt that this reflection
could have been incorporated into the piece more but nonetheless, from manic
pace to slow motion and stills, their simplicity owned the space.
The second
piece for the night was more site-specific in nature as the work was staged
outside the theatre, outside the foyer. In almost Parcore/contact improv style
these five dancers literally climb up the walls to reach new heights. Their
movement and synergy is quite tranquil with moments of gasping awe. This French
Company, delight us with their choreography as they use handheld radios and
local stations to underscore their experience. They were like the red rose
growing in a concrete jungle, free, beautifully isolated and rare as they spoke
the freedom and joy of the dancing body.
Jomba! runs until September 4 at The Elizabeth
Sneddon Theatre, Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre, KZNSA Gallery and workshops
in the UKZN Drama Department. Still to look forward to are works by Vincent
Mantsoe, Desirè Davids, Youth Fringe, Flatfoot and international representation
by Daniel Renner. Forced to listen .. never have the arts been more needed! - Verne
Rowin Munsamy
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