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Tuesday, November 03, 2009
Connectedness Manifested in Dance
By Jennifer Noyer
For the Journal
The first half of "Journeys Africa" ended Saturday evening at the North 4th Art Center with Gregory Maqoma and musical members of his Vuyani Dance Theatre. Maqoma is touring the United States with his choreographic work "Beautiful Me," the final section of a trilogy exploring an exchange of arts and ideas in Africa and the United States.
Maqoma has studied the history and anthropology of dance, and has presented movement conversations reflecting the multiple ethnic influences within South African culture. He breaks cultural stereotypes, revealing a recognizable human connection through his art.
"Beautiful Me" is a joint creation by Maqoma and his four musicians. It is a totally integrated collaboration. Poorvi Bhana on sitar, Mandienkosi Nhlapo on percussion, Bongani Kunene on cello and Isaac Molelekoa on viola enter into the dancer's every sinew, bone and muscle to articulate melodies and rhythms.
A long, drawn-out tone on viola culminated in the statuesque form of Maqoma illuminated in a square of light at center stage. He began speaking of a conversation with his father, expressing the wish to become closer to others, the audience and humanity.
As he moved toward the audience, his feet stamped out Kathak-inspired rhythms and gestures from the South African Indian culture, a borrowing from the work of Akram Khan. His arms and hands vibrated with energy, picked up from the plucked strings of the cello, then blended into more fluid curves following the melodic line of the viola.
With arms flung widely to each side, and torso vibrations to short, rapid bowing on the viola, he evoked a native African style. His sharply changing head focus, moving into many directions, suggested a search for identity. Breath exclamations, and later the clicking mouth sounds from Bantu speech, expanded the style beyond Johannesburg.
Maqoma moved to three microphones where he spoke of names from South African history. He asked, if we do not remember the names of those who have passed on, how do we find ourselves? Identity is one of the major themes of this work, and Maqoma finally defines it as a multicultural identity.
The dancing at this point moved out into the stage space with whirling turns and high jumps as Maqoma called out historical names from the Dutch past, and up to the present. He asked questions of the Pope, Franklin Roosevelt and the Queen of England.
The musicians sang with him as he danced around and onto a rose compass projected on the floor. Sitar music dominated as he moved in bent knee lunges, with poses from Hindu sculpture, and bowed to Poorvi Bhana. The compass drew attention to the four directions and the global nature of the choreography
The Vuyani Dance Theatre and Gregory Maqoma did indeed bring out the beauty of our cultural connectedness, which is what the Global DanceFest is all about. The second half of the festival will come in the spring of 2010.
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