Season 6 was co-curated by architect and urban designer Thiresh Govender and dancer and choreographer Sello Pesa of Ntsoana ContemporaryTheatre, alongside founder William Kentridge and co-animateurs Bronwyn Lace and Phala Ookeditse Phala.
PROGRAMME 1
VUKA KLEVA
It begins with a bit of housekeeping – the clearing of the stage following a previous performance. It is in this seemingly insignificant theatrical procedure that the lines between labour and performance begin to blur.
Donned in overalls and aprons, bearing paintbrushes, brooms, dustbins, teacups and more, the cast slowly unfolds across the stage, mirroring the all-too-familiar routines of the city and the home. Conceptualised and directed by Vusi Mdoyi, Vuka Kleva is a 20-minute musical and physical performance exploring the everyday rhythms of systems of labour, capital, and human energy through the art of pantsula, tap, and gumboot dancing.
While the energy of Vuka Kleva is fast and frenetic, the choreography is filled with nuance. Blink and risk missing percussionist Micca Manganye rubbing the skins of his drum to mimic the sweeping of a floor, or dancer Elma Motloenya interspersing the stampede of boots on stage with the shrill, rasping effect of spoon on teacup. Dancing, here, is something of an endurance sport, a shrewd and visceral commentary on the effects of work on our bodies and this can be seen seen in a particularly draining gumboot solo, or an ensemble drenched with sweat but dancing on nonetheless.
Then there are the tangible effects of our labour – the flotsam we allow to build up before casting it aside, dismissing it as necessary by-products of a city at work. We see this best in a series of black rubbish bags filled with air, tied up and discarded around the stage, or the many pieces of paper floating about in small dust storms kicked up by an ensemble of workers.
There is no work without respite, however. A nightclub scene replete with music, consumption, and even more dancing calls into question the practices we engage in as a means of countering the effects of labour on our minds and bodies.
Ultimately, Vuka Kleva is a performance that complicates the ritualistic nature of labour and respite, and amplifies the pace, the syncopation, and the complicated human mechanics of work and embodied labour in order to present a troublesome framework for a life led by labour – a collection of bodies whipped up into a routinised frenzy before collapsing each day, only to begin again tomorrow.
Conceptualised & directed by | Vusi Mdoyi
Dramaturgy by | Phala Ookeditse Phala
Performed by | Elma Motloenya, @Lungile Ngwenya, Bukhosibakhe Letsekha & Paballo Phiri
Percussion by | Micca Manganye & @Vuyani King Gaba Feni
Creative & production contributions by | Vusi Arts Projects (VAP), Kgotosofalang Moshe Mavundla & Petros Lephoto
For the full version of the piece go to | https://vimeo.com/371332566
THE STONE CRUSHER
A story of physical, spiritual, and emotional labour, Princess Thandi Tshabangu’s The Stone Crusher is a 20-minute narrative performance told through the lyricism of the body and the voice.
Taking its lead from the work that takes place both in the informal mining sector and as a result of that sector, Tshabangu explores the tale of a character tasked with the heavy load of caring for the dead – a job that has long since been ignored. Those lost to the mines need to be adequately cared for and remembered, and it is the Stone Crusher who must consult the gods.
Tshabangu, armed with nothing more than a bucket full of stones and a pair of wooden rods, employs the restrained use of body and of voice to tell her story. These strained vocal elements and the sparse movement of the body become a base for beautiful rhythmic interruptions – the crushing or spilling of the stones, the stomping of feet, or the crooning to the gods.
Choreography by Thabo Rapoo announces itself in deeply visceral and affecting moments such as the crushing, crunching act of bare feet on hard stones, or the precarity of wooden sticks threatening to break under the heavy weight of labour, spirituality, and time.
Finally, The Stone Crusher begs the question: What effect does the kind of work we take on and put ourselves through have on our minds, our souls, our bodies? And what are the repercussions for those who allow their commitment to labour to take priority over all else?
Conceptualised & performed by | Princess Tshabangu
Directed by | Phala Ookeditse Phala
Choreography by | Thabo Rapoo
For the full version of the piece go to | https://vimeo.com/371331753
Cinematography & Editing by | Noah Cohen
Writing by | David Mann