Impact No. 1

Tshwane Dance Theatre Presents this collaboration with the Cape Dance Company

For the first time ever, the Joburg Theatre’s Mandela stage will showcase a collaboration between two dance companies from opposite corners of the country – the Cape Dance Company (CDC) and Tshwane Dance Theatre (TDT). This event is part of a project made possible by a grant of R420 000 from the National Lotteries Commission (NLC).

These two superb companies will present three challenging works, all showing dancers and movement at their most intense.

Belinda Nusser returns to South Africa to reimagine phase 5 confronted, to create a new version of the one first created for Mzansi Productions. The work is one of extreme pace and precision and contrasts these abstract movements with vague, inconsistent chaos. The six TDT dancers show the strength of group dynamics, counterpointed by the intense power of solitude. The soundscape features Amon Tobin Murcof, and Massive Attack.

Nusser trained at the National School of the Arts in Johannesburg. She then studied briefly at the John Cranko School in Stuttgart, before returning to South Africa where she danced with Vusa Dance Company, Free Flight Dance Company, and the State Theatre Dance Company. She then moved to Europe where she danced professionally for Companie de Redha (France), Danish Dance Theatre, Galili Dance (Holland), and Norrdans (Sweden). She is now a permanent member of Skånes Dance Theatre – a repertoire contemporary dance company in Malmö, Sweden. In 2011, she choreographed Quartet for Lunch” in 2011 for the company. Her first work in South Africa, Assignment: What?, was for the Jozi Dance Company. For this work she was nominated for the 2008 Gauteng MEC Awards for Best Upcoming Choreographer. This was followed by phase 5 confronted, which nominated in 2009 for the Gauteng MEC Awards for the Best Choreography in Contemporary Style. In July 2013, she choreographed the deep and lovely quiet for the Joburg Ballet. In September 2013, she performed a solo, Entrementes, choreographed by Nelson Rodriguez-Smith as part of the Dance Umbrella tribute to Adele Blank. This was followed in 2014 by Fade-out. Five for the CDC.

Luyanda Sidiya’s Maisha, fresh from its world premiere at the South African State Theatre in July 2016, comes to the Mandela stage for this season. It is his first new major work as an independent choreographer and was commissioned by TDT.

“Maisha” in Swahili means “life”’. Sidiya describes his new work as “driven by our way of life, ubuntu and the beauty that we carry as Africans”, a beauty that lies much deeper than the eye can see. He fights against stereotypical notions of Africa. Instead, he seeks to dispel this trope or cliché, and, as with his spectacular earlier work Siva (Seven), looks beyond colour, perceived poverty, poor governance, and all that the Western media portray unquestioned, and untrue, about us, the people of Africa.

After Sidiya’s formal training at Moving into Dance Mophatong (MIDM), he was appointed there as the Afro-fusion dance teacher and rehearsal director. He went on to teach choreography and African dance at Bennington College in Vermont, in the United States, and spent three years with the ACE Dance and Music Company in the United Kingdom. From 2014 to 2015 he was the artistic director of Vuyani Dance Theatre – a post he left to pursue a career as a freelance choreographer. Sidiya was the Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance 2015. His commissioned work, Siva (Seven), received unanimous praise from dance critics and was hailed as a milestone in the evolution of South African dance. It was presented at the National Arts Festival, and subsequently at The Market Theatre. In May 2016 it will be performed at the South African State Theatre. In 2015, he was nominated for a Naledi Theatre Award for his choreography for Ketekang. More recently, his work Dominion was nominated for a prestigious Dora Award for best dance production after it was staged in Toronto in April 2015.

Earlier this year, at Artscape during CDC’s 21^st anniversary season, CDC presented the African première of A Thousand Shepherds, by José Agudo, an acclaimed Spanish/United Kingdom choreographer. It is regarded by many as one of the most ground-breaking contemporary works presented in South Africa in the past decade.

A searing exploration of humanity, A Thousand Shepherds is inspired by the notion of pilgrimage. Originally created on the company Ace Dance & Music in Birmingham, to the music of Vincenzo Lamagna, the tone of the work is mystical, strongly influenced by the choreographer’s stay in an Indian Ashram. Agudo’s work is poignant, articulate, and reflective. It intimates a sacred and intense spirituality. Costume design is by Kimie Nakano.

José Agudo is the artistic director of his own project-based dance company and rehearsal director for world-renowned British choreographer, Akram Khan. Agudo’s multi-disciplinary pedigree started with the study of flamenco dance, which has influenced and crafted much of the rhythmical virtuosity of this work.

The CDC is one of South Africa’s leading dance companies. Led by founding artistic director Debbie Turner and supported by an ensemble of dancers who never fail to captivate through their pure athleticism, humanity, physical expression, and breath-taking virtuosity, CDC has just seen another sold out run on the Main program of the National Arts Festival and a record breaking 15 standing ovations for A Thousand Shepherds. CDC presents approximately 40 performances per year across South Africa and has toured internationally to Europe, the United States of America, and Asia.

Impact No. 1 will be staged at the Joburg Theatre from 18 to 21 August 2016 for four performances only. Bookings open Monday 19 July 2016.

Impact No. 2 will be staged at the Dance Factory from 25 to 27 August 2016 for four performances only and will feature new works created by the TDT company. It will also feature collaboration with MIDM.

Running time for Impact No. 1: 90 minutes. There will be two intervals.

Tshwane Dance Theatre and Cape Dance Company are funded by the National Lotteries Commission.