Dance meets fashion under Full Moon
BRAAMFONTEIN - A collaboration between Vuyani Dance Theatre and fashion label Black Coffee has led to a cosmic affair to remember.
Joburg audiences will be able to bask in the spectacle when epic dance production Full Moon appears on stage at Joburg Theatre at the end of April.
The production will form part of the dance theatre’s 15th anniversary celebration.
Conceived and directed by dance theatre founder and award-winning choreographer Gregory Maqoma and artistic director Luyanda Sidiya, the production will feature 25 dancers, the South African National Youth Orchestra, original music composed by Isaac Molelekoa, and costumes by Black Coffee.
Maqoma said his collaboration with the fashion label, headed by Jacques van der Watt, began in 2003 when he created Miss Thandi, his first solo work.
Full Moon will be their fifth production together.
“Their attention to detail is remarkable and always surprising and challenging, conceptually. The marriage of fashion with movement brings something new to the arts,” he said.
Van der Watt said the label’s long-standing relationship with the dance theatre made the design process “very easy for everyone involved”.
“We know how far we need it to be pushed visually, and we can work together intuitively because it’s very easy to gauge expectations,” he said.
“Before designing costumes, I like to watch the dancers rehearse. This gives me a very clear vision of the movement and what is needed from the costumes. At times, we use very dramatic shapes to create high impact, but some of the choreography calls for almost quiet costumes to allow the bodies to shine and speak for themselves.”
Having seen how the choreography and fashion concepts come together in the final work, Maqoma said he was awed by the textures, colours and ideas brought to the table by Black Coffee.
He added that the designs tied in with the production’s themes of purity, distortion, hope and loss, dark and light, myth and the unknown.
Full Moon, described as a “dance odyssey”, will take audiences on a stirring, surreal journey from outer space to the landscapes of earth.
The production will draw on ancestral memories and myths.
Full Moon will run from 30 April until 11 May at Joburg Theatre, Loveday Street, Braamfontein.
Details: 0861 670 670; www.joburgtheatre.com
