Dance is the bridge which integrates us all – Moving into Dance (MID) Enable through Dance project 30 September and back by popular demand, Carmina Burana 3 & 4 October, UJ Arts Centre, Kingsway Campus.
Moving Into Dance (MID) presents its Enable Through Dance project on 30 September at 11:00 at the theatre at the University of Johannesburg’s (UJ) Arts Centre on Kingsway Campus. The Enable programme is now in its 9th year, having been established in 2016. The company works with youth living with disabilities in schools in and around Johannesburg, not as a once-off intervention but on a consistent basis.
The aim is to develop a sense of belonging and recognise the lived experience of disability, seeking to restore confidence and self-esteem through artistic exploration and movement. The final outcome is giving access to these young people through a performance in a professional theatre setting. Sunnyboy Mandla Motau, MID’s Artistic Director, says of the project:
“Enable Through Dance is a project that is very close to MID’s heart. Working in special-needs schools and giving young people the opportunity to perform in a professional theatre and feel the excitement of a live dance production is a huge blessing. We are very grateful to funders such as the City of Joburg’s Directorate of Arts and Culture for supporting the teaching in these schools for three months.”
MID’s Enable week culminates with the return of “Carmina Burana”, first performed in March this year. Re-staged for MID by Soweto-born and Denmark-based choreographer and teacher, Melody Putu, the project is a collaboration between MID, Putu, Denmark-based Artistic Director of Holstebro Dance Company, Marie Brolin-Tani and Foot Expression Dance Company in Klerksdorp, North-West Province.
Using the rich composition of Carl Orff’s music, “Carmina Burana” (first performed in 1937), which takes as inspiration beautiful medieval poetry from the 11th century containing lyrics about love, beauty, nature and loneliness, Putu’s evocative choreography embraces diverse bodies, ages and abilities to offer a story of acceptance and inclusion.
“Carmina Burana” explores diversity and the eternal marginalisation of individuals within society who are seen to be different or differently-abled. The company comprises dancers of varying ages and abilities who breathe life into this powerful contemporary dance work. Guest artist Tebogo Lelaletse lives and works in Klerksdorp and dances with Klaas Kompi’s Foot Expression Dance Company. There are several MID trainees in the work in addition to the core company members and Teboho Letele, a former MID graduate and dancer, now Operations Manager for the company. Tammy Ballantyne Webber joins the work in the role of the Mother, having had an association with MID for well over 23 years.
Putu, who spent an intensive few weeks in Johannesburg mounting the work on the company, teaches full-time at the ballet school connected to Holstebro Dance Company. Putu and Brolin-Tani have a close and long relationship with MID, having created workshops, performances and outreach programmes in previous years. MID’s work in the inclusive dance space makes them the ideal partner for this project.
Some audience comments after the March performances included:
“Moving, beautiful and evocative”
“…a feeling of belonging which brought tears to the eyes of many” and
“MID is a force to be reckoned with in the contemporary dance world…”
“Carmina Burana” has three performances on 3 October at 19:00 and 4 October at 15:00 and 19:00 at the theatre at UJ Arts Centre, Kingsway Campus, Auckland Park.
Tickets cost R100. Bookings on Quicket.
Enable Through Dance is on at 11 am on 30 September, and the entrance is free.
Queries: admin@midance.co.za or Whatsapp 073 357 8393.
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About Carmina Burana
Choreography: Melody Putu
Assistant to the Choreographer: Marie Brolin-Tani
Lighting Design: Hans-Olof Tani
Costumes: Holstebro Dance Company.
Music: “Carmina Burana” by Carl Orff
Company: Moving into Dance Trust (with Guest Artists)
Tebogo Lelaletse (guest artist), Teboho Letele, Lesego Dihemo, Sbusiso Gumede, Wesley Hlongwane, Afika Ziqubu, Lucracia Magoro, Nandi Zulu, Bridget Mulutsi, Nhlanhla Nkomo, Nobuhle Swela, Lwazi Mbatha, Cresent Maseko, Tebogo Maabane and Tammy Ballantyne Webber (guest artist).
About Moving Into Dance:
Moving into Dance (MID) was born in the cruel turbulence of 1978 Apartheid South Africa by Sylvia “Magogo” Glasser. It was an artistic response to the destructive policy of separateness. The vision was to draw on the creative capacity of the human spirit to connect, enliven, and transcend—dance as antidote to division. Over four decades later, we continue our signature of Afrofusion Dance, and we continue this legacy. We Lead. We Learn. We Include. We Return. We Lead through a professional company that has produced artists recognised through numerous awards at home and abroad. We Learn through our accredited Performing Arts Training Course and internships that have produced dancers of the highest calibre. We Include through continued social justice activism. Enable through Dance is a project that seeks to disrupt societal narratives around disability by bringing abled and so-called disabled-bodied dancers together to explore the unexplored creative potential. Importantly, we also Return. Community is core to our identities as human beings and Africans. And so we go back, give back, by sharing the gifts of this experience and learning with others. The value of this organisation in aiding social justice can never be understated. With this background, we continue to do what we do as an enabler of purpose and a dealer of hope.
About Foot Expression Dance Company:
The company was founded by Klaas Kompi, an MID graduate, in 2009 in his home province, the North-West. The vision was to invest in developing dance practitioners and future audiences, focusing on previously disadvantaged individuals, particularly women and the youth. Klaas also intended to create a proactive approach to self-sustainability by broadening the company’s revenue base, improving the recruiting of talented youth and allowing them to acquire the skills of performing and making a living out of their talents. He also recently began working in disability and dance.
About Melody “Sowetoboy” Putu:
Melody Putu was born in Soweto, SA and trained as a dancer. He danced in companies in Poland and Hungary before joining Scania’s Dance Theater in 2002. Since 2013, he has choreographed for the likes of Skånes Dance Theater and Holstebro Dance Company. From 2013-2018, he taught in Sweden and Denmark. Since 2018, he has been employed full-time at the Ballet School in Holstebro, teaching
contemporary, ballet, and jazz. Melody’s inspired dance piece “Carmina Burana” is a signature work which explores disability and dance. Through this work, he has created awareness around age, body types and abilities, under the artistic directorship of Marie Brolin-Tani.