Dance as initiation and excavation

For the six mentees of the AND 5, 6, 7, 8 dance mentorship programme, the process was as much about learning the practice and business of dance as it was about developing a deeper understanding of one’s own voice, intention and independence.

Coming into the mentorship from a range of dance disciplines and levels of experience, the six mentees – Dipuo Banda, Zaza Cala, Phuti Chokwe, Princess Mbokazi, Nonjabulo Ndlovu and Tidimalo Phelephe – received technical training and choreographic skills as well as guidance in marketing, administration and navigating the industry as independent artists.

For many of the mentees, the mentorship also became a process of excavation – a deep interrogation into one’s cultural and personal history – channeled through the generative potentialities of the body and the voice. Similarly, the opportunity to develop and share their own stories, as opposed to telling the story of a director or a choreographer, became an invaluable part of their journey through the programme.

Tasked with producing a text on the performative outcome of the mentorship, NNE, the mentees note that it is “…a sacred journey where young girls become women through Koma ya Basadi, an African initiation ritual. This is where you lose your mask and become true to yourself. The piece interrogates one’s spiritual existence. Without understanding where you come from, it is challenging to have an identity. We are a product of our foremothers’ secrets, pain and lies.”

The mentorship programme and the resultant performance, then, can be understood as mirrored processes – a dual project of initiation and self-discovery through the body in motion.

– David Mann