(Work by Sean Crozier, Nduduzo Makhathini & Kitty Phetla. Pic by Lauge
Sorensen)
Phetla impresses considerably with her elegance
and fluid movements, whether performing
en pointe or in a pair of socks. (Review by Caroline Smart)
In a first in the history of the Standard Bank
Young Artist Awards, the Young Artist for Dance, Kitty Phetla, joins forces
with a previous winner for Jazz – Nduduzo Makhathini who is both artist and
healer - to create a new work in which they pay tribute to the spirits who
guide them today, both personally and in their work.
Going Back to the Truth of Space is performed and
choreographed by classical ballet dancer Kitty Phetla. There were five
performances on the Festival, but I was only able to catch the last one in which
Makhathini did not appear, as apparently he had to return to Cape Town.
However, the splendid grand piano remained on
stage, representing his presence, and the performance featured a sound
recording of the music he would have been playing.
This final show saw an added visual contribution
by acclaimed artist Sean Crozier with the screening of works across the whole
of the backstage wall. The evocative images reflected “a philosophy of science,
heritage, culture and history that reimagines the past and envisions our future”.
(Right: Kitty Phetla.Pic by Mark Wessels )
Phetla, who is one of the few black ballerinas
in the world, is renowned as having toured Russia as the first black dancer to
embody the famous Dying Swan on
stage.
Going Back to the Truth of Space features a mix of
ballet and contemporary dance and Phetla impresses considerably with her
elegance and fluid movements, whether performing en pointe or in a pair of socks. Her legs go on forever, so her arabesques
and penchés are particularly stunning. (A penché
is when a dancer is usually bent forward over one leg with the other in
arabesque well above 90 degrees!)
The programme mentions that the piece “engages
in modes of communication through moments of improvisation but I sometimes felt
that these tended to become repetitive and lost their meaning, However, scenes
such as her caressing of the piano and the placement of the ballet pointe shoes around the piano stool
spoke volumes as a token of respect for Makhathini.
The final scenes involves a shower of rain. Water
pours from a pipe in the flies, Phetla thrusts herself in and out of the fast
flowing drops and gets wet, which I took to be a kind of cleansing process.
In an article in Eye Witness News, Winnie
Theletsane, describes the production eloquently: “She moved around the stage as
if she was in search of an emotional shelter as if she was trying to find a
space to hide her innocent soul and nurture it until it could face the
turbulence brought by life itself. Somehow she managed to make me feel like the
ancestors still had the power to guide the living and protect us from evil.”
This was an interesting collaboration between
two Young Artist Award winners and has the potential for great development. –
Caroline Smart
(National Arts Festival: To link direct to the NAF site click on the
large banner that runs across the top of this blog or visit https://www.nationalartsfestival.co.za/)
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