Monday, April 19, 2010
Affirming the power of art...
Big changes present new challenges for Jazzart at present...but even so, the art is what comes first. No matter what, we will maintain to stand strong in our mission...AFFIRMING THE POWER OF ART...
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Cape Town impressed at this year's Dance Umbrella
The Jazzart company owned their place at this year's FNB Dance Umbrella. The following is an article posted on the Artslink website by writer Tammy Ballantyne. She describes the complete essence of "1st draught", choreographed by resident choreographer Sbonakaliso Ndaba.
''1st Draught but not the last"
FNB Dance Umbrella 201003/16/2010 11:52:26
"The final weekend of the FNB Dance Umbrella was overtaken by Cape Town-based companies and choreographers who gave Jozi-ites a lot to think about...
...The stage has been stripped bare - there are no wings, all the lights are exposed, stairways, doorways and entrances and exits are clearly visible. The tribe assemble to dance out a ritual, to weave magic, to offer us a potion so strong, our heads are spinning and reeling with images and sounds - of bodies engaged in such focused intensity, moments of incredible calm and stillness and moments of grinding speed it doesn't seem possible a human can move that fast.
Sbo Ndaba is the chief magician who has created a piece so powerful, it is like a sniff of the best snuff you can buy; we sneeze and shiver with heady delight. The dancers are bathed in soft light with red undertones, their upper bodies and heads completely white with body paint, their hands and wrists bright red. They wear blouson transparent pants, the men bare-chested, the women with tank tops, half-covered in red paint.
Silence.
Grant van Ster is in a pool of white light, he is bird-like. Someone is dancing upstairs, visible in the windows above the stage. Fingers feel the earth, let the grains of sand collect and filter through again to the ground. The ensemble is striking. Their line and depth of movement is exquisite and the gestural details, repeated in motifs, are visceral and real.
Partnering is intuitive and displays what training can achieve - these dancers know each other so well, they almost anticipate the jumps, catches and falls. They work with each other every day; they do class, they rehearse, they live together. This is all evident on stage.
Ndaba has cleverly utilised the space, it is organic and part of the piece. The dancers resemble sculptures as they watch, grouped in alcoves, archways, seated on stairs, in shadow in a doorway.
Shaun Oelf leaps and springs into the space; he is like a buck, poised, balanced and wiry, ready for flight. Phindile Kula (trained at the Dance Factory) draws the eye, she is haughty and accomplished. The dancers' sweat makes the paint run, white marks are all over the stage. Their connection to the earth is tangible.
These are the shape-shifters who drift in and out of the space until it is time for the ensemble to gather together in a breathtaking sequence with van Ster grunting commands, keeping control. They are riveting as they explore the entire space, catch each other, leap into the air and gather again.
Until the end where we return to silence and dancers melting into the earth, an intrinsic part of all those sand grains.
Ndaba's brew is hypnotic. It's not run-of-the-mill Black Label or Castle Lager. This one is home-brewed, uniquely Jazzart - ingredients include the Cape air, the spirits of the ancestors, the magic of the young and the gift of experience. Halala! The tribe has spoken..."
http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=24185
''1st Draught but not the last"
FNB Dance Umbrella 201003/16/2010 11:52:26
"The final weekend of the FNB Dance Umbrella was overtaken by Cape Town-based companies and choreographers who gave Jozi-ites a lot to think about...
...The stage has been stripped bare - there are no wings, all the lights are exposed, stairways, doorways and entrances and exits are clearly visible. The tribe assemble to dance out a ritual, to weave magic, to offer us a potion so strong, our heads are spinning and reeling with images and sounds - of bodies engaged in such focused intensity, moments of incredible calm and stillness and moments of grinding speed it doesn't seem possible a human can move that fast.
Sbo Ndaba is the chief magician who has created a piece so powerful, it is like a sniff of the best snuff you can buy; we sneeze and shiver with heady delight. The dancers are bathed in soft light with red undertones, their upper bodies and heads completely white with body paint, their hands and wrists bright red. They wear blouson transparent pants, the men bare-chested, the women with tank tops, half-covered in red paint.
Silence.
Grant van Ster is in a pool of white light, he is bird-like. Someone is dancing upstairs, visible in the windows above the stage. Fingers feel the earth, let the grains of sand collect and filter through again to the ground. The ensemble is striking. Their line and depth of movement is exquisite and the gestural details, repeated in motifs, are visceral and real.
Partnering is intuitive and displays what training can achieve - these dancers know each other so well, they almost anticipate the jumps, catches and falls. They work with each other every day; they do class, they rehearse, they live together. This is all evident on stage.
Ndaba has cleverly utilised the space, it is organic and part of the piece. The dancers resemble sculptures as they watch, grouped in alcoves, archways, seated on stairs, in shadow in a doorway.
Shaun Oelf leaps and springs into the space; he is like a buck, poised, balanced and wiry, ready for flight. Phindile Kula (trained at the Dance Factory) draws the eye, she is haughty and accomplished. The dancers' sweat makes the paint run, white marks are all over the stage. Their connection to the earth is tangible.
These are the shape-shifters who drift in and out of the space until it is time for the ensemble to gather together in a breathtaking sequence with van Ster grunting commands, keeping control. They are riveting as they explore the entire space, catch each other, leap into the air and gather again.
Until the end where we return to silence and dancers melting into the earth, an intrinsic part of all those sand grains.
Ndaba's brew is hypnotic. It's not run-of-the-mill Black Label or Castle Lager. This one is home-brewed, uniquely Jazzart - ingredients include the Cape air, the spirits of the ancestors, the magic of the young and the gift of experience. Halala! The tribe has spoken..."
http://www.artlink.co.za/news_article.htm?contentID=24185
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