Moving into Dance (MID), a Joburg-based Afro-fusion contemporary dance company whose shows had not been cancelled in its forty-four-year history, had to shut down abruptly at the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020.
The MID now returns with three spectacular small-scale productions on the Lesedi stage at the Joburg Theatre, to showcase signs that life, art, and joy are making a comeback post-Covid-19.
Between Friday, 29 April and Sunday, 1 May, Moving into Dance will occupy the Lesedi stage with a triple-bill of Ingress for three live performances.
Described as entrance or giving access to, Ingress honours the right to access the theatre space and the impact of the pandemic on the theatre industry, dancemakers and their ability to renovate, survive and return.
The dance piece features an international award-winning piece, Road by Oscar Buthelezi; fight, flight, feathers, & f**kers by Sunnyboy Motau and Rachel Erdos, as well as Despot by Lesego Dihemo.
Road premiered in 2014, winning the Kurt Joos international award for choreography in Essen, western Germany in 2016 and the European Hanover 33 Choreography award in 2019.
Through an intimate duet, Buthelezi and Sbusiso Gumede will explore the journey and routes travelled towards enlightenment and life lessons.
“This work explores the journey we take as human beings, the meeting points we share and the experiences we come across. It shows the unity amongst men when challenges plague their paths, the undulating terrain that we conquer and the sense of achievement at the end,” says Buthelezi.
Buthelezi is currently serving as Associate Artistic Director at MID alongside Motau. Buthelezi began his training and development in 2010, when he enrolled at MID as a student. He was mentored by MID’s founder, Sylvia “Magogo” Glasser.
Embodying the strong physicality and Afro-fusion technique of MID, he has since become a sought-after choreographer for a variety of projects, a singular achievement being that of the choreography for The Colour Purple in 2019, for which he won the coveted Naledi Theatre Award.
Fight, flight, feathers & f**kers by Sunnyboy Motau was commissioned by Dance Umbrella in 2015, for which it received a nomination among the top five works presented at the festival. Exploring the politics, psychology, and physicality of masculinity, it delves into the fight or flight principle, relating this theory to the modern-day male-dominated society, interrogating cultural differences in male reactions to varying life situations where their masculinity is either challenged or validated.
Hailing from Alexandra, Motau remains invested in the development of his home township through dance and the belief that dance truly brings hope. Having joined MID in 2008 as a student, he is a highly commissioned, internationally recognised choreographer and facilitator. He won the Impact Award for Choreography in 2016 and was also named among the Mail and Guardian’s top 100 young people to watch.
Despot by Lesego Dihemo is a play on the fight to stand up for oneself or to churn the waters. The question is, at what point do you step up and take back your power?
Dihemo’s passion is training autistic children in dance. She was fortunate to have been able to participate in the Integrated Dance Colloquium in Durban in 2018, which allowed her to advance her skills in integrated dance teaching. Serving as the Wardrobe Co-ordinator for MID, Dihemo is driven to see her career excel in both performance and facilitation.
Ingress is scheduled to run on Friday, 29 April at 7 p.m. and Saturday, 30 April at 7 p.m., with the last show staged on Sunday, 1 May at 2 p.m. Tickets are priced at R80 at the Lesedi theatre inside the Joburg Theatre.
Written by Bongiwe Radebe
16/03/2022