dance @arts.alive at the Dance Factory
artslink.co.za
4 September - 4 October
______________________________________________________________________________
Friday 4 September - 19h30
Opening Night
This is always a wonderful event, showcasing the best of local
professional and community talent. On the bill this year are the slick
State Theatre Dance Company in Moya Michael's Ten Versus 44:15 and
Technikon Pretoria Dance Department in Timothy le Roux's Nevermind, UK
guest artists Leikin Loppu in The Station; a new work from PJ Sabbagha
and more.
Tickets R50 Members R25
______________________________________________________________________________
Saturday 5 September - 19h30 Sunday 6 September - 14h30
Leikin Loppu
Guest artists Leikin Loppu from Leeds UK present two performances of
their hilarious After Eight & Before Nine (the morning after) to
Stravinsky's Firebird Suite and excerpts from Prokofiev's Cinderella
Everything you ever wanted to do in a restaurant but never dared
to...the tragi-comic story of a couple and an obsession with food.
As they stumble across each other over a sausage casserole, a curious
waitress and her unsuspecting customer are drawn together. They find
their way home after mints and cigars, only to wake up to the
awkwardness of the morning after. In their world of missed connections,
chocolate biscuits and oranges, the couple move through anticipation,
frustrated desire and discomfort - to a tragi-comic finale.
`Brave, jaw-droppingly funny, ingeniously crafted and compelling work' ,
`Funny, imaginative, brilliantly timed' and `A unique and winning style
- definitely ones to watch'
`Surprise, slapstick, quirky and surreal elements all blend to create a
truly theatrical
performance' Total Theatre
`Their work is unique and wildly absurd, treading a slim line between
dance, mime
and drama. My jaw ached from being in the dropped position, so brave
were the
performers' choices - nothing was predictable' Dorchester Guardian
`Gawky and myopic, Besbrode's creation is a gem; Hird deserves a medal
for dancing
without choking...They give oral sex new meaning with their wacky brand
of courtship'
Yorkshire Post
Tickets R30 Members R20
______________________________________________________________________________
8 September 19h30 9 September 19h30
Young Moves
is a lively programme shared by the newly launched Northwest Arts Dance
Company from Mmabatho, with choreography by Susan Abraham and Ellington
Mazibuko; Without a Woman, a new work by Thabo Komape, Thabiso Lekuba
and Frans Ramoba; and a contemporary work by Grayham Davies for the
students of Johannesburg Dance Foundation.
Tickets R25 Members R15
2.
Friday 11 September 19h30, Saturday 12 September 19h30, Sunday 13
September 14h30
Soweto Dance Theatre's Watch Out!
A programme comprising six works, including Thiba, which discusses
issues pertaining to women abuse such as rape, violence and so forth;
For the Soul, a spiritual work that celebrates the African ancestors
and their importance to spiritual healing; Solo; Duet; and two new
works.
Watch Out! is Soweto Dance Theatre's theme for this year. The programme
aims to present performances in an African Contemporary style that draws
inspiration from South African people, in particular African people in
the townships and rural areas. The dancers are mainly SDT2, the
students, with choreography by Jackie Mbuyiselwa Semela and Thembinkosi
Collen Hlatswayo.
Tickets R25 Members R15
_____________________________________________________________________________
Saturday 12 September 14h30
ZAPAC - this promising group of 8 to 22 year olds from the Zamdela
Performing Arts Centre in Sasolburg, under the direction of Tony
Campbell, present 14 works in a 90 minute programme which includes Afr
Fusion, Contemporary, Modern, Gumboots and Stepping.
At their recent performance in Grahamstown, the press said `...perform
with such body-curling verve...impressive...has a distinctly African
feel and uses traditional drumbeats - as well as Stevie Wonder classics.
Well worth shelling out R15.'
Tickets R15, Kids & Members R5
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday 15 September 19h30 Wednesday 16 September 19h30
SHUTTLE ‘99 - Programme 1
Lara Stefansdottir (Iceland) and Anders Christiansen (Denmark)
plus two South African artists: Pravika Nandkishore (Durban) and Glen
Leedenberg (Cape Town)
Lara Stefansdottir in MOTIONS
born in Reykjavik in 1962, she began her dance studies at the age of
seven. In 1980, she graduated from the National School of Dance and
subsequently studied in Kuopio, Dresden, Cologne and Copenhagen. She has
been a member of the Icelandic Ballet since 1980 and has created a
number of works for the company and also for independant dance groups,
for theatre and for television.
MOTIONS, was premiered on April 3, 1997 in the Alexander Oper in
Helsinki as part of the Nordic MINI Festival. It is inspired by a book
of poetry by Elisabet Jokulsdottir - Dans I lokudu herbergi - Dance in a
Closed Room. The music is played live by the composer on clarinet and
didjeridoo.
Anders Christiansen in TRUNK
Christiansen's work positions itself on the border between performance
theatre and modern dance. It touches themes such as the frailty of the
body, sex and identity, often expressed through solo performances which
in their unique personal style present powerful and frail visuals.
The art of Anders Christiansen is much like the art of painting. His
performances can be regarded as live stage pictures, scenic tableaux in
movement.
3.
`Anders Christiansen works with miniscule steps and arm-movements which
he fills with a meaning and force, almost as if each movement bore the
seed of its own story. He has developed an idiom which is all his
own...And then his intense face and his personality explode far beyond
the stage - balancing all the time between the strong and the raw
vulnerability'. (JyllandsPosten)
`When Christiansen takes hold he rarely lets go before it hurts...This
is of what Anders Christiansen's twisted and repetitive minimalism is
capable: he forces us to see what is hidden beneath the buried surface
of existence.' (Teater 1)
`- it is a dance that incites people to leave in anger or makes their
tears rain down.'
(Ekstra Bladet)
Trunk could be described as a remembrance of the 20th century male body.
The traditional roles of the musician and the dancer are maintained, but
the fact that the cellist is performing the music on stage, makes her a
visual and dynamic part of the performance.
Tickets R40 Members R20
______________________________________________________________________________
Thursday 17 September 19h30 Friday 18 September 19h30
SHUTTLE ‘99 - Programme 2
Virpi Pahkinen (Sweden) plus two South African artists: Mandla Bebeza
(Johannesburg) and
Andrew Gilder (Durban)
Virpi Pahkinen - SOLOS (The Residue, Cobra Acephale, Isisar)
In 1996, Virpi was awarded both Finland's Cultureprize for young artists
and the Svenska Dagbladet Opera Prize for `having created with great
artistic integrity a series of concentrated solos. In combination with
music, staging and lighting, she makes her body become its own
calligraphy in a space of time. Virpi Pahkinen provides dance with new
dimensions and her audiences with a breathless resting place for the
soul'.
Pahkinen has also taken part as dancer in several of Ingmar Bergman's
theatre productions at the Royal Dramatic Theatre in Stockholm: The
Bacchae, Peer Gynt, Goldberg ariations, Space and Time and a Winter's
Tale.in 1994, she was the choreographer for the GoteborgsOperan Ballet
and danced the role of Isagel in the opera Aniara.
Virpi Pahkinen has performed in Finland, Denmark, Norway, Greece, The
Netherlands, the UK, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Belgium, Mexico and
Australia.
`She can be a deep-sea crayfish or a glimmering gold anemone, a cunning
expectant cobra or a watchman at the end of the universe.' Dagens
Nyheter
`Watching...Virpi Pahkinen, as she slowly, surely unfolded her limbs in
three exquisite solos, you could feel that heightened purity of mental
conmcentration in every detail, every flexing and articulation of finger
or toe. At times, it's as if her body is a ribbon of pliant energy, it
flows into held moments of serene composure, yet just as swiftly assumes
the predatory edge of a rattled scorpion.' The Herald, Glasgow
Tickets R40 Members R20
_____________________________________________________________________________
4.
Saturday 19 September 19h30 Sunday 20 September 14h30
SHUTTLE ‘99 - Programme 3
Jo Stromgren (Norway) and Reijo Kela (Finland)
plus two South African artists: Elu (Johannesburg) and Jackie Job (Cape
Town)
Jo Stromgren - MASCULINE MYSTERIES
Received the Cultural Name of 1996 from the West Coast press and the
Norwegian Theatre Directors Forum Award ‘97. His works have been seen in
Barcelona, Copenhagen, Stockholm, northern France, Gothenburg, Malmo,
Dresden, Dusseldorf, Aachen and Gothenburg. Represented Norway in the
finals for Bagnolet ‘98. Was awarded the first prize by the Scandinavian
jury for his piece A Tribute to the Art of Football.
Stromgren has spent a significant amout of time lecturing to students of
theatre and has been involved in many television productions, both of
his own work, and that of others.
His artistic aims are: dance vocabulary based on speed, timing and
concrete action; direct communication with audience; to prioritize
creativity rather than an intellectual or conceptual approach.
Reijo Kela - Site Specific
Mr Kela's own art of dance differs from that of traditional performance.
His choreographies are not limited to classical stage positioning.
Rather, they can be viewed from various angles and end by altering the
ordinarily accepted points of reference. Each presented piece relies
solely upon natural light. Reijo takes time to prepare all the settings
which are necessary for his performances. Whether the piece calls for a
standard set, sculptures, or other such ornamentations, Reijo is
personally in command of all the required technical equipment. Since
1989, he has been performing with live music.
Reijo Kela's favoured work environments are art museums and galleries.
He also creates pieces for open air settings such as streets and market
places. Quite often, the audience - which must move along with him to a
new location - becomes an active participant in the dance.
He has worked in collaboration with a vast number of Finnish theatres in
the capacity of both dancer and choreographer. He has also been teaching
for several years in Helsinki at both the Theatre Academy as well as at
the University of Industrial Arts.
Tickets R40 Members R20
_____________________________________________________________________________
Tuesday 22 September 19h30 Wednesday 23 September 19h30
Innovations
a platform for local choreography. The programme features works drawn
from the Dance Factory's Solo Festival this August, as well as Vincent
Mantsoe's Thari, for Ballet Theatre Afrikan, works by Denise Srephani,
Elu and more.
Tickets R25 Members R15
____________________________________________________________________________
5.
Thursday 24 September 19h30
Dance Africa
features, amongst others, the legendary Vuka Uzibuse, the highly
theatrical Mpandeli Dance Company from Venda, the PeaceMakers from
Meadowlands and other hot traditional African dance companies from
Gauteng. An annual and not-to-be missed event.
Tickets R20 Members R10
_____________________________________________________________________________
Friday 25 September 19h30
RJC Dance Theatre from Leeds
(Reggae, Jazz, Contemporary) by courtesy of the British Council.
Language, Life, Respect...
will be a fast moving production made up of ten or more contemporary
dance pieces. Black contemporary choreography at its best. RJC will draw
inspiration from some of their most successful pieces...from reggae,
salsa and carribean techniques and will astoiund you with breathtaking
contemporary work which is fast moving, slick, dynamic and original.
`Hot, versatile dancers with a dazzling mastery of different styles',
`imaginative and expressive dancing...an infectious combination of
African, Caribbean, Ragga and Jungle Styles'
Tickets R30 Members R15
_____________________________________________________________________________
Saturday 26 September 19h30 Sunday 27 September 14h30
Flamenco
Ritmo Spanish Dance Company
Through funding from the National Arts Council, Sylvana Gironi is
creating a new work, fusing flamenco and contemporary African styles.
Gironi says: `Spanish dance and African traditional dance have many
elements in common most notably the use of rhythm - both the structure
of the rhythms themselves, and the way in which they are expressed, for
instance through hand clapping, stamping of feet and legs, and movements
which have a strong earthy dynamic. The roots of both these dance forms
lie in the cultural traditions and celebrations of families and
comunities of their respective countries. Live accompaniment, group
participation, and improvisation are integral to both.'
Also on the bill is a new abstract flamenco work, marking the centenary
of Frederico Garcia Lorca's birth. Lorca is one of Spain's most
celebrated poets and playwrights. His works have provided much
inspiration for Spanish dance. Ritmo's new work reflects the common
threads of repression, isolation, domination and frustration which run
through his plays and especially through the lives of his female
characters. These strangled emotions, which were a result of the
repressive Spanish society of Lorca's day, inevitably led his characters
into tragedy and death. This work Cuanda sale la luna, uses the
Siguiriyas - one of flamenco's darkest and most `hondo' rhythms - as
inspiration.
Completing the programme will be Serenata para cuatro, to the music of
De Falle. Gironi's collaborative piece with co artistic director
Alexandra le Maitre, it was first performed during the Johannesburg
Youth Ballet season in 1997.
Tickets R25 Members R15
6.
Friday 2 October 19h30 Saturday 3 October 19h30
The State Theatre Dance Company
returns to Johannesburg for a 10th Anniversary season of works including
Esther Nasser's Juliet and Romeo, Christopher Kindo's Me and You and
British choreographer Robert North's Death and the Maiden.
STDC is a company of twelve strongly individual artists, who bring with
them their own backgrounds, temperaments, personalities and experiences.
They say: `Contemporary dance is particularly relevant today because it
mirrors what is happening in our lives, in our society and in the world
around us. It challenges both the dancers and the audience to become
aware of the value of expression - it may be entertaining, disturbing or
thought provoking.'
Juliet & Romeo
The Prokofiev remains, as well as the bloody battle between the Capulets
and the Montagues. The picturesque Verona however, has been replaced by
the Johannesburg Northern Suburbs of 1998, with all the accompanying
socio-economic trappings,
Me and You
To music by Zakir Hussain, Kindo has created a piece he describes as
`East Meets West in Africa'.
Death and the Maiden
Created to the first two movements of Shubert's D Minor Quartet,
acclaimed British choreographer
Robert North's work explores the omnipresence of death. `I've always
liked the idea...your death follows you around ...you should come to
terms with it' (Robert North).
Tickets R40 Members R20
______________________________________________________________________________________________
Sunday 4 October 19h30
Finale.
This night of works selected from the most exciting shown during the
month, rounds up da...@arts.alive.
Tickets R50. Members R25.
--
Arts & Culture Trust of the President Award 1998
Electronic Media of the Year
"Arts world in one website" http://www.artslink.co.za
Southern African Calendar of Arts and Cultural Events
http://www.artslink.co.za/cal.htm
Sign up now for ACE-mail (Arts & Culture E-mail)
http://www.artslink.co.za/ace
E-mail: arts...@icon.co.za