History of the Main Complaint (as interpreted by Thulani Chauke) is a performance by dancer Thulani Chauke in response to the film by William Kentridge. It was first performed at The Centre for the Less Good Idea in June 2017 as part of the For Once programme.
The month of June, commonly referred to as “Youth Month” in South Africa, commemorates the Soweto Uprising, a series of demonstrations and protests led by black school children in South Africa that began on the morning of 16 June 1976. Students from numerous Soweto schools began to protest in the streets in response to the implementation of Afrikaans as the medium of instruction in schools. They were met with police brutality, and the day ended in bloodshed. Today, the event continues to stand out as one of the country’s most violent and divisive moments.
Performed in June 2017, more than four decades after the Soweto Uprising, Chauke’s short and effective performance muses on the legacy of violence in contemporary South Africa, and the often desperate act of bearing witness to it all.
With Kentridge’s History of the Main Complaint as the projected backdrop, Chauke takes his place between a set of ropes strung across the length of the stage. Looped and manipulated soundbites fill the room – key snippets from court hearings and commissions of inquiry that parade and parody the country’s party politics, and the chilling refrain of laughter in the face of great violence.
Throughout the performance, Chauke remains largely ensnared by the ropes. He is caught between the lines, hung out to dry, attempting unsuccessfully to inform from the margins. In this way, he is something of a flailing trapeze artist caught in a balancing act between past and present, the enduring power of history and the heavy weight of time.
Above all else, History of the Main Complaint (as interpreted by Thulani Chauke) is a performance that explores the notions of helplessness, rage and uncertainty, and serves as a disquieting reminder to never ignore the interminable reverberations of the past.
– David Mann
CREDITS:
CHOREOGRAPHER & PERFORMER | Thulani Chauke
FILM DIRECTOR | William Kentridge
EDITOR | Žana Marović
PROJECT MANAGER | Shruthi Nair
STAGE MANAGER | Hayleigh Evans & POPArt Productions