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Magic moves: Happy 30th, Dance Umbrella!

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VINCENT MANTSOE A choreographer who broke through from street dancing to the stage as democracy dawned, Mantsoe went on to be the global face of South African dance’s new school. Dance Umbrella provided his first platform and he emerged with sinewy new-school solo works that acknowledged the role of tradition and the ancestors in his creative process. He is pictured here performing his breakout work Gula (1993). Picture: Mothlalife Mahlaba
VINCENT MANTSOE A choreographer who broke through from street dancing to the stage as democracy dawned, Mantsoe went on to be the global face of South African dance’s new school. Dance Umbrella provided his first platform and he emerged with sinewy new-school solo works that acknowledged the role of tradition and the ancestors in his creative process. He is pictured here performing his breakout work Gula (1993). Picture: Mothlalife Mahlaba

Where would South African contemporary dance be without the annual Dance Umbrella run by Georgina Thomson?

As the festival prepares to celebrate its 30th birthday, Charl Blignaut speaks with the country’s leading choreographers, now based all over the world, about their memories of

starting out under the umbrella.

JAYESPERI MOOPEN This iconic image of Zulu meeting Indian is called Circles and Squares and is typical of the cross-cultural work of choreographer Moopen, with her Tribhangi Dance Theatre. The work was first performed at the Dance Umbrella 23 years ago. She says: “Dance for me, as a South African choreographer, has always been to transcend cultural barriers and, over the past 30 years, Dance Umbrella provided that platform to experiment, enabling me to find my niche in an ever-changing environment. Picture: John Hogg
DADA MASILO Pictured here with her famous chiskop, Masilo also choreographed the piece Love and Other Four Letter Words at Dance Umbrella. She became one of the festival stars and is hugely sought after worldwide. She has become known for her radical reversions of classical ballets such as Swan Lake and Giselle, inserting a contemporary black woman into a formerly pristine white space. Picture: John Hogg
GREGORY MAQOMA Here performing in his Exit/Exist at Dance Umbrella in 2012, Maqoma is possibly the most famous of the current South African choreographers, working with his Vuyani Dance Theatre. He says: “I have opted to use Dance Umbrella as a testing ground for my works before they are released internationally. The reason is because my work usually responds to our circumstances, histories and identities. There I always see it as a mirror, reflecting on us as society, therefore the response from the people for which the work is intended is crucial. The festival has been a great platform for international producers to see the work first-hand and to ultimately make bookings, giving the work a life beyond Dance Umbrella.” Picture: John Hogg
Gerard Bester (right) Lost in a Way was created by Bester, Athena Mazarakis and Craig Morris. Bester used the Umbrella to collaborate and engage a model of community theatre that has high impact. He says: “The most rewarding highlight is the work. I remember the lighting box of the Wits main theatre was a charged, scary space – where certain choreographers would critique the other works on those over-long mix-billed programmes.” Picture: John HCHARLogg
SYLVIA GLASSER Pictured is veteran contemporary dance pioneer Glasser’s Man is an Island. Known for fusing African and classical traditions, her many student protégés at her 40-year-old Moving Into Dance Mophatong company call her Magogo. Here’s what she says today: “Moving into Dance Mophatong (MIDM) and Dance Umbrella have had a 30-year symbiotic relationship. Every single year either my work and/or young choreographers from MIDM have presented work, starting with Vincent Mantsoe, Gregory Maqoma, Portia Mashigo and dozens of others whose work was first seen at the Dance Umbrella. I believe that I had an extraordinary gift to be able to nurture, mentor and develop a great number of young choreographers and dancers. Without the Umbrella to showcase their work, I wonder if they would have become so successful.”
Robyn orlin (left) Known for her anarchic pieces that combine dance, theatre, film and fashion, Orlin is the godmother of the quirky avant-garde and is today world famous. Her reputation was entrenched by Dance Umbrella. She is also known for her ridiculously long titles. Pictured is a dancer in her piece Beauty remained for just a moment then returned gently to her starting position...The event is on at the Wits Theatre in Joburg from March 6 to 18. Visit danceforumsouthafrica.co.za for the full programme

SELLO PESA Seen here is Displacement Powerlines directed by dancer and choreographer Sello Pesa of Ntsoana Contemporary Dance Company. Another of the early stars of the Umbrella, says Pesa: “As a young, unfunded choreographer Dance Umbrella provided with me a platform to express my ideas and develop my art. Over the years my concepts and approach to dance and art have changed and the Dance Umbrella was always accommodating of these shifts, whether the work was essentially dance based, such as Totems, performance art based (Time of the Small Berries with Peter van Heerden and a spit braai) or rolling around in a barrel in a street in the traffic (Inhabitant). We have performed in parking lots, on the pavement and backstage!”PHOTO: john hogg

NELISIWE XABA It may have started with a mix of all the dance forms, ballet included. But Dance Umbrella soon began growing a strong new contemporary school, commissioning full length works from rising choreographers. As it embraced all the art forms, dancers like Nelisiwe Xaba were able to straddle visual art, performance and dance to defy all categories and work as easily in galleries as on a dance stage. Here she performs at the festival in 2012 in a piece by Robyn Orlin. Picture: John Hogg
STEVEN COHEN AND ELU Controversial and internationally renowned gay Jewish performance artist Cohen landed at Dance Umbrella through his late partner Elu, a raw and streety but classically trained dancer. Here Cohen performs in their piece I Wouldn't Be Seen Dead in That. He says:“Dance Umbrella was the trampoline that somersaulted me into France ... and it did likewise for other South Africans too. Dance Umbrella let us out into the world and welcomed us back home again. I remember my first few Umbrellas and the violent reactions the work provoked – being banned from the Durban Dance Festival and causing the Cape Town Dance Festival to collapse under its own racist, white, ballet-based weight one year. But Elu and I and others helped to fully open the Umbrella. We paved the way for undance and performance art. Dance Umbrella gave everyone a chance to prove that no one doesn’t dance.” Picture: John Hogg
MAMELA NYAMZA Gugulethu-born dancer, teacher, choreographer and artist-activist Nyamza arrived at Dance Umbrella and rocked the stage, carrying a new school of political art into the limelight.She was recently announced as the National Arts Festival Featured Artist for 2018. Nyamza recently told City Press: “I’m a lesbian and I’m out about it and it’s good for my children to see that their mother is a lesbian and a hardworking artist.”Here she appears at the 2011 Dance Umbrella in Shift, which she directed, choreographed and performed. In work like this, her whole body is an artwork, an instrument and a cultural weapon. Picture: John Hogg

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