#danceumbrellasa

[thelookofthething]

The Dance Factory, Johannesburg. Masterclass series. Dance Umbrella SA, 2016

[thelookofthething]

Dance in March

This week has seen a plethora of dance experiences for me.

A dose of the Dance Umbrella SA Festival, witnessing contemporary dance in all its multiplicity. More info about the Festival here:  http://www.danceforumsouthafrica.co.za

Young and ‘old’ dancers (the invertedness of those commas because you’re considering retirement aged 45 in this world). Male and female. Black and white. African and European.

And before I tread too far down this path, the intense bursting-apart of these binaries by the piece The Last Attitude. Nelisiwe Xaba and Mamela Nyanga providing a hugely complicated, finely crafted piece which is on the cliff-edge of repetitive but never quite going into freefall. Who better to talk about the work than Nelisiwe herself, in a fascinating interview with Jedi Ramalapa in the Dance Umbrella Gazette. Its also available online here: https://sowhatsart.wordpress.com/2016/02/28/the-imitation-game/

Sarah Roberson also writes interestingly about The Last Attitude (which of course, by dint of being a dance piece, pleasingly deals in language other than words in order to make its point): “The work is not particularly easy to watch. Why should it be? Traditional ballet has enjoyed audiences through the ages who require a neat narrative and satisfying ending. Nyamza and Xaba aren’t going to supply that. It’s not relevant to the here and now, it’s not relevant to them. The Last Attitude is slow and considered. It takes its time to give one the time to breathe it in. It’s serious. It’s funny.” http://creativefeel.co.za/2016/03/the-right-approach/

This achingly sparse work onstage creates a kind of physicality in my brain, forcing internal movement, a challenging dance of shift, spin, about-turn in my thoughts. I love this - that The Last Attitude makes my brain dance. Never still for a moment, never really comfortable for a moment. And meanwhile my sweat in the achingly hot Dance Factory venue slowly trickles; one leg slips off another, and my wild brain activity makes me acutely aware of the need to remain physically still. The etiquette of sitting in an auditorium prevails, but I’ve never been so uncomfortably aware of it as now. Fascinating. Deliberate, no doubt.