Young choreographers wow audience

Six young female choreographers each created a dance piece to portray different issues faced by women.

The choreographers were mentored by acclaimed dancer, choreographer Nelisiwe Xaba.

Grace Barnes, Katlego Mogola, Tania Vossgätter, Thoko Seganye, Palesa Matabane and Sikelelwa Qwazi blew away the audience with their pieces.

Palesa Matabane and Matete Phala, who are both post graduates and Master of Arts candidates of the University of Pretoria, choreographed ‘As I am my witness’.

It was a provocative performance piece that looks at black femininity; it explores the notions of nakedness versus nudity, sensuality versus being sexual, ownership, power and pride.

Katlego Mogola is a member of Joint Minds, a group that creates theatrical arts works critically analysing the politics of the body and gender dynamics which are placed in urban spaces.

She presented a piece called ‘Ew! Beauty’. The performance was a tap dance and physical theatre duet, which work to symbolize the constant internal conversations between women and sexual arousal in different spaces.

Grace Barnes, a Dramatic Arts graduate from the University of Witwatersrand presented ‘Breathe’, a physical/dance theatre piece that explores the ways in which we yield to or overcome changes.

Thoko Sidiya took part in a cultural exchange between South Africa and Sweden that led to her choreographing a solo that was presented at Dance Forum Dance Day and later travelled to Sweden to collaborate with a Swedish choreographer Nikki Tsappos.

She presented a piece called ‘All about me’, which highlights the pressure women go through from being girls to women.

Tania Vossgätter completed an Honours Degree in Dance at the University of Cape Town with a focus on enhancing artistry within a dance learner at a pre-vocational level.

She presented ‘Live!’ where the audience choreographed the piece.

The two performers will stand in their individual squares and await the choreographic cues that were presented to them by the participating audience member.

Action cues like run, jump, turn, fall etc along with a dynamic or sensorial cue like soft, hard, sharp, shaky and more.

Sikelelwa Qwazi, a recent Rhodes University Bachelor of Arts graduate in Instrumental Music and Drama, specialising in physical theatre, acting, creative writing and vocal art, choreographed a piece called ‘Me over Society’.

The piece saw two female dancers facing each other as if they are looking at themselves through the reflection of a mirror – every movement or gesture they do blend together – even the way they inhale and exhale is the same.

They then realise that their bodies are different and they start to desire each other’s body parts which develops to body shaming, which makes one have a low self-esteem, which eventually becomes self-hate.

Lakin Morgan-Baatjies was the Master of Ceremonies.

Arts journalist and academic Robyn Sassen, together with Nelisiwe, provided the choreographer’s notes and feedback at the end of the show.

Also read: Protea production had audience giggling

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