AUGUST 2024 | THE OPEN MOMENT: SHADOWS, STEPS & SONGS

On Friday 30 August, SO | The Academy for the Less Good Idea presented, SHADOWS, STEPS & SONGS, an Open Moment in four parts.

This Open Moment carries a focus on rhythm, musicality, and the body, and features new works-in-progress by dancer and choreographer Thulani Chauke, composer and choreographer Nhlanhla Mahlangu, dancer, teacher, choreographer and pantsula, Vusi Mdoyi, and the US-based dance company Step Afrika!

Following a residency at The Centre for the Less Good Idea, regular Centre collaborators Thulani Chauke and Nhlanhla Mahlangu presented a showing of their respective explorations towards a workshop and residency with Miami Light Project in November 2024. While Chauke is concerned with the relationship between shadow, costume, cinematography and projection, Mahlangu’s focus is on the form and function of music and its relationship to the body.

Chauke and Mahlangu’s connected residencies in Johannesburg and Miami and with the Miami Light Project are led by Bronwyn Lace and funded by Dan Lewis and Valerie Dillon under the banner of The Centre Outside the Centre programme, and the ‘Friends of the Less Good Idea’ special projects initiative.

SWAN LATE | THULANI CHAUKE

Opening the evening is Chauke’s Swan Late. Utilising shadow, scale, and movement, Chauke’s performance explores what he and director Phala Ookeditse Phala refer to as the stutter of history.

Dancing with himself, and with his own shadow, multiplied, Chauke engages the idea of holding too many voices, too many histories, identities and ways of being, in a single body.

There is a subtle vulnerability in Chauke’s ‘shadow selves’ and his engagement with scale lends the work some beautiful moments, too. The smallest version of himself, housed in a book, manages to climb his leg, escape towards the back of the stage and more.

Ultimately, Swan Late, in this early iteration, is an experiment in visibility, conflicting identities, different kinds of bodies, and styles of dance.

CREDITS:

CONCEPTUALISER & PERFORMER | Thulani Chauke
DIRECTOR | Phala Ookeditse Phala
CINEMATOGRAPHERS & COMPOSITORS | Noah Cohen & Bukhosibakhe ‘Pantsulatographer’ Khoza
SOUND DESIGNERS | Neo Muyanga & Zain Vally

VUMA INGOMA | NHLANHLA MAHLANGU

Taking place in The Other Space, Nhlanhla Mahlangu’s Vuma Ingoma begins as the audience is filing into the venue. Mahlangu greets each and every person who walks through the door. “Sawubona, sanibonani.”

Behind him, seated on stage at a small desk, is his collaborator, Stacy Hardy who sits and reads. She reads stage directions and running orders, and she reads Mahlangu’s own thoughts and processes – conversations between the two of them over the course of a few days. Once she is done, she gets up and leaves.

Over the course of Vuma Ingoma, Mahlangu draws from the audience to fuel his exploration on stage. He points to people and asks their names. It is a simple and generative gesture. Here, he explores names as musicality and rhythm, the name as a mnemonic device. Mahlangu riffs and improvises, surfacing memory and personal history as he goes. He goes on like this for some time – improvisation, repetition, and then discovery.

In a post-performance Q&A, Mahlangu explains his interest in composition as the residue of life, and songs as documents and historical events. Similarly, the body in a state of repetition, he says, becomes an unconscious mantra.

CREDITS:

CONCEPTUALISER & PERFORMER | Nhlanhla Mahlangu
RESEARCHER & WRITER | Stacy Hardy
CREATIVE CONSULTANTS | Gerard Bester, Dorothy Ann Gould, Stacy Hardy & Sello Pesa

STEP AFRIKA! & izithukuthuku

In September 2024, Step Afrika! celebrated its 30th Anniversary with a week in Johannesburg, South Africa, where they were first founded. In the days leading up to their anniversary performance at Soweto Theatre, Step Afrika! utilised The Centre’s venues for rehearsal. The work they rehearsed here formed part of a short showing during The Open Moment.

Closing the evening is a showing of two short extracts by Step Afrika! dancers. In addition to this, Centre collaborator Vusi Mdoyi presents a showing of his latest work ‘Izithukuthuku’ – a development of ‘Footnotes’, and ‘Umthongo’, both conceptualised at The Centre. This work, as well as ‘Rebirth’ by choreographer Thuli Semela, was commissioned by Step Afrika! for their 30th anniversary celebration.

Between performances, audiences are given some context to the history of stepping as an artform. “Why do we step? When Africans were brought to the America, the drum was removed. So, the body became the drum, the source of percussion and rhythm,” explains Step Afrika! co-founder C. Brian Williams.

CREDITS:

TRIBUTE

CHOREOGRAPHER | Jakari Sherman
PERFORMERS | Ariel Dykes, Nya Christian, Kenneth Alexander, Jerod Coleman, Kiomi Givens Jr, Joseph Vasquez, Terrance Johnson & Nepri James

WADE

CHOREOGRAPHERS | Kristen Ledford, Paul Woodruff & LeeAnet Noble
PERFORMERS | Conrad Kelly II, Nai’mah Ray, Brie Turner, Robert Warnsley & Isaiah O’Connor
VOCALISTS | Aphiwe Duneko, Nosipho Mtotoba, Sbusiso Shozi & Simphiwe Skhakhane

REBIRTH

CHOREOGRAPHER | Thuli Semela
MUSICIANS | Sipho Dlamini, Mojalefa Mosia & Sifiso Maseka
VOCALS | Aphiwe Duneko, Nosipho Mtotoba, Sbusiso Shozi & Simphiwe Skhakhane
PERFORMERS | Stephen Chauke, Aphiwe Dumeko, Busisiwe Mahlangu, Danile Mashite, Sfiso Morobe, Motsau Motsau, Karabo Motsikoe & Tholakele Nkal

IZITHUKUTHUKU

CONCEPTUALISER & CHOREOGRAPHER | Vusi Mdoyi
CONCEPTUALISER & DRAMATURG | Phala Ookeditse Phala
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER | Brian Williams
PERFORMERS | Elma Motloenya, Lungile Ngwenya, Paballo Phiri, Oscar Buthelezi, Muzi Shili, Thembi Joanita Ngwenya, Micca Manganye, Sbusiso Shozi, Vusi Mdoyi & Thulisile Binda
MUSICIAN | Sbusiso Shozi