THE HEAD & THE LOAD | SCHOOL LEARNER’S WORKSHOP & AUDIENCE ACTIVATIONS
In addition to HOW | Showing the Making: William Kentridge on The Head & The Load, and Thinking In & Through the Body: Nhlanhla Mahlangu & Thulani Chauke on The Head & The Load, SO | The Academy for the Less Good Idea presented a one-day The Head & The Load workshop for 50 high school history and debating learners, hosted at The Centre for the Less Good Idea on 20 April 2023.
The workshop was facilitated by a team of key performers of The Head & The Load, including Thulani Chauke and Hamilton Dhlamini; SO Academy artists Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu, Sibahle Mangena, and Jessica Sibongile Mathe; and Ichikowitz Family Foundation Youth Office facilitators.
Using the research, creative tools and performative moments employed in the making of The Head & The Load as well as the themes of the production (The First World War and its impact on Africa), learners were able to engage with new ways of learning about, and making sense of history.
Chauke’s “Wounded Man” dance, for example, becomes a useful exercise in embodying the themes of duty and burden in the context of Africa’s involvement in WW1 as well as contemporary, post-colonial Africa.
Similarly, Lecoge-Zulu and Mangena’s exercise of getting learners to draw a map of Africa and “interpret” the land and their interest in it using Dadaist gibberish, is directly inspired by the contents of The Head & The Load and becomes a novel way of engaging, creatively, with significant historical events such as the Berlin Conference.
These exercises and discussions, coupled with Dhlamini’s exercise in characterisation, resulted in a series of short performances from the students.
Short documentary screenings by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation then showcased the work being done by the foundation, such as their African Youth Survey, launched in 2020 to provide governments, the private sector, and civil society with insights into the aspirations, motivations and viewpoints of Africa’s youth. The importance of African oral history was also a central topic, with the Ichikowitz Family Foundation’s belief being that “knowledge about ourselves – our identity as a nation – depends on our understanding of our past and how others see us.”
The methodologies of The Centre for the Less Good Idea – processes of collective making and the opportunity for thinking through material and text together with others – allow for learning that takes place through embodiment, movement, writing, storytelling and collaborative improvisation. Ultimately, participants are provided with a closer understanding of the themes and messages of The Head & The Load, as well as this long-silenced part of Africa’s history.
In addition to their participation in the workshop, the learners all received complimentary tickets to see The Head & The Load at Joburg Theatre, present some of their collaborative explorations after the performance, and take part in a post-show discussion between William Kentridge, Ivor Ichikowitz, Gcina Mhlophe, and select member of the cast and production team of The Head & The Load, including composer Thuthuka Sibisi and performer Nhlanhla Mahlangu.
In the post-show discussion, much of what was grappled with in the workshop, thematically, emerged organically through conversation between the speakers, students and cast members. Above all else, it was the notion that grappling with our heavy histories and embracing one’s past, no matter how complicated, is an essential part of understanding our present and informing our future.
CREDITS:
FACILITATORS | Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu, Sibahle Mangena, Jessica Sibongile Mathe, Thulani Chauke, Hamilton Dhlamini & Thami Pooe
MOMENTEUR FOR THE SO ACADEMY | Athena Mazarakis
PHOTOGRAPHER | Bash Hops
Audience activation workshops
SO | The Academy for the Less Good Idea also undertook a month-long audience activation programme in the lead-up to The Head & The Load, drawing on the central themes and key moments from The Head & The Load to present workshops to various artist networks, student groups and community arts organisations.
These workshops, led by frequent collaborator of The Centre, Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu, have been presented to The Wits School of Art, Westbury Youth Centre, the Morris Isaacson Centre for Music, the Johannesburg Society for the Blind, and The Market Theatre Laboratory to name a few. Participants of these groups also receive free tickets to attend a performance of The Head & The Load in its Johannesburg run.
Says Lecoge-Zulu: “We have a variety of moments that we’ve taken directly from The Head & The Load that we use to facilitate these workshops. What’s resonated with participants across all of the workshops so far is that moment of actually realising how much of Africa’s involvement in the First World War has been kept from us, and how much of this erasure, this silencing of one’s history continues to be perpetuated today.”
Lecoge-Zulu goes on to explain that the workshops have provided the opportunity for participants to experiment outside of their artistic disciplines and for non-dancers and artists to harness performance as a means of learning.
“In each workshop, there has been an extraordinary sense of empathy from the participants,” she says. “Through these moments of collaborative making, there is a real willingness and ability to step into the shoes of those who have been lost to history.”
– David Mann
PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi
CREDITS:
FACILITATORS | Bongile Gorata Lecoge-Zulu, Sibahle Mangena, Jessica Sibongile Mathe & Lindokuhle Thabede
MOMENTEUR FOR THE SO ACADEMY | Athena Mazarakis
The Head & The Load school’s workshop is presented with the support of the Ichikowitz Family Foundation.
All The Head & The Load audience activation events are presented with the support of Bank of America Securities and the Ichikowitz Family Foundation. With special thanks to the Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative.
Executive produced by THE OFFICE performing arts + film.
The Head & The Load in Johannesburg is a co-production with the Centre d’Art Battat, Montreal.