3 African Tales
This performance was in November of ’05 @ the Criterion Theater in Bar Harbor, Maine. And this is a run down of the pieces presented. The show was about an hour in length and involved 18 dancers from the College of the Atlantic. We worked together for 10 weeks covering full contact improvisation and choreographing through motif. Group work was essential as we worked with forms like choruses and pairs and successive movement. The aim was more to deal with the nature of dreamtime in movement rather than contemporary context of the folktales. And as always proceeds when to ndini wako for the education of AIDS/HIV orphans.
Progam:
This is a performance based on three Southern African folktales. The whole production feeds off of African inspired movement and sound. The choreography focuses mainly on the primal and communal aspects of traditional movements. The approach to the whole is minimalist and makes use of the vernacular of tribal Southern African dances with some aspects of West African Modern Dance. The accompanying sound is made to help the choreography coast along smoothly, a value similar to the theatrical ‘Pathetic Fallacy’. This series of pieces therefore plays in the space between Afro-fusion and Dance Theatre. The three pieces themselves are an attempt to bring forth traditional Shona values, symbols and metaphor into a contemporary context and bear testimony to the nature of their transcendence. The dancers are all students of the College of the Atlantic with a variety of dancing backgrounds.
Zvikara (Beasts):
The dance is based on a Zimbabwean folk tale about five sisters who marry five wealthy brothers. After a time, when the couples were in the far off land of their husbands, the young brother of the women discovers a secret: Their husbands turn into beasts at night to go hunting and return with large amounts of food for their wives. The boy then takes his sisters to ‘safety’ by flying away on a woven reed mat.
This piece focuses solely on the demeanor of these brothers. This was chosen as a subject as it occurred to me that these man-beasts are actually never pointed out as being evil or bad in the tale. They only became a threat when discovered. This piece will involve four dancers. The aim is to expose the beasts’ double-sided nature: the violent and disharmonious against the affectionate and loving. (Approx 15 min)
Gwenyambira (the mbira player):
I have shaped this tale through weaving together the stories I grew up hearing and my own interpretation of my surroundings. The Mbira is a Zimbabwean musical instrument, which is of great ritualistic and ceremonial significance. The musician himself was a very important person in the community, and the skill was passed on with the flow of ancestral intervention. In this story the Gwenyambira lives alone with a little bird that means everything to him. When the bird is freed and does not return the man goes to look for it. His search is eventually unfruitful, and the sullen man returns to sit at the edge of the forest and play his mbira till he dies. This story incorporates the aspect of suspense as to the fate of the bird. This will be the longer of the pieces (Approx 30min) including 16 dancers. The telling of the story itself precedes this piece.
Rhwayivhi naDzvinyu (Chameleon and Lizard):
This plays off the humorous tale of Chameleon and Lizard’s adventures which lead them into a competition to determine whose survival methods are more effective; Chameleon can change colors to hide, and Lizard can drop his tale to fool predators. Though the tale leaves a hazy conclusion, I decided to use the story to explore my experience in Diaspora. Through the metaphor of camouflage and wit, I explore how these attributes can benefit or fail us in this world. This will be the last performance, a solo by myself. (Approx 15min)
