(Flatfoot
dancers Jabu Siphika & Zinhle Nzama take to Florida Road to prepare)
(Pic
by Val Adamson)
In a remarkable feat of perseverance and
beauty, Durban’s Flatfoot Dance Company celebrates its 16th anniversary with a
new dance theatre work, Under the Same
Sky, at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from April 24 to 28, 2019.
With an international touring reputation
for excellence and a host of national awards under its belt, Flatfoot’s arrival
at this momentous 16th year mark as one of South Africa leading contemporary
dance companies, is a testament to a dedicated team of dancers and
administrators.
In keeping with its reputation of creating
and performing edgy, controversial, beautiful and intelligent dance, Flatfoot
dives heart first into the zeitgeist of contemporary South African identity, in
Under the Same Sky and “asks us to
remember our humanity and the place that art holds in teaching resilience”.
Three new dance works by Sifiso Khumalo,
Jabu Siphika and Lliane Loots will premiere in this season.
“These works asks of us to step back to
negotiate the humanity within all of us,” says Artistic Director of Flatfoot,
Lliane Loots. “We take a look at where we have come from, in order to
understand who we are, and who we might become. So we are delving into the
heart of South African identity, which is both dream and nightmare; both
nostalgia and violence. We have no doubt that these works will leave the
audience overawed at the sheer beauty of the power of contemporary dance to
tell our real South African stories, as it provokes and challenges through the
images created, but it also allows the audience to breathe and be reminded of
what makes us human.”
Sifiso Khumalo’s work Ngaphesheya (loosely translated to mean ‘beyond’ or ‘over there’)
is a personal journey back to Khumalo’s own childhood in Clermont growing up
with the scourge of “necklacing” as a political weapon. In this piece, made
from a questioning and very present perspective in 2019, asks where we are
going if our history (and where we come from) means nothing.
Jabu Siphika’s growing feminist voice as a
choreographer, opens up in her latest work titled Death of a Dream. Working from the personal to the political,
Siphika has created an evocative duet that looks at disintegrated personal
relationships as a metaphor for disinterred political hopes and dreams.
Beautifully danced by Siphika herself in partnership with Mthoko Mkhwanazi, Death of a Dream is heart-breaking in
its beauty.
Lliane Loots’ unsheltered, ends the programme. Loots’ award-winning style that
combines video, spoken word and dance in a “total theatre”’ experience, finds
its artistic legs in her newest work. unsheltered
moves Loots and Flatfoot’s quest for humanity into the global domain and starts
to “unbuild” the meaning of the walls that are the prevailing political agendas
of many first world nations. It asks the audience to journey with the dancers
into the heart of difference and what it means to embrace a hurt, damaged and
vulnerable humanity. Loots’ dance work has a poetic depth that will provoke and
delight audiences.
Dancing in the season are Sifiso Khumalo,
Jabu Siphika, Zinhle Nzama, Sbonga Ndlovu, Ndumiso Dube, Siseko Duba, and
Mthoko Mkhwanazi. Lighting design is by Wesley Maherry.
Catch Flatfoot Dance Company’s 16th
anniversary season Under The Same Sky
at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from April 24 to 28. Shows are at 19h30 on April
24, 25 and 26 and at 14h30 on April 28. Tickets R85 and R65 (for scholars,
students, pensions and block bookings of 10 or more seats) available through
Computicket - https://online.computicket.com/web/event/under_the_same_sky/1292038803/617314048
There
is a special performance for schools at R30 per scholar and teachers come free
on April 26 at 10h30. Bookings for schools only are via Lootsl@ukzn.ac.za
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