CAPE TOWN INTERNATIONAL DANCE FESTIVAL. Directed by Theo Ndindwa and Tanya Arshamian. Presented by iKapa Dance Theatre. Various venues. From November 23 to December 3. SHEILA CHISHOLM reviews.
GIFTS too few people possess are ambition with vision. Theo Ndindwa and Tanya Arshamian are a couple who have them. In 2007 aiming “to empower people through dance” they co-founded iKapa Dance Theatre. Since them, with limited resources, iKapa dancers have helped “build bridges between town and township”.
For these achievements Ndindwa and Arshamian must be commended. As they must be for garnering international forces to participate in iKapa’s first Cape Town International Dance Festival(CTIDF). For ten days CTIFD presented workshops and presentations in venues in Gugulethu, Artscape’s Room 301, Isibya, Arena, Opera House, and on a mobile stage on Artscape’s Piazza.
Circumstances prevented me attending all shows, but what I saw showed me ambition and vision are marvellous to have. However, without efficient communication aims aimed for are unlikely to be achieved or, high audience numbers reached.
For example, detailed timetables should be displayed in foyers and through social media. Social media should also be harnessed to notify patrons of cancellations – there were several. Following that principle could have saved a Durban family arriving at Artscape for a matinee when there wasn’t one. As well as preventing a panellist arriving for a panel discussion to find it also cancelled – without notice.
On World Aid’s Day Dance 4 Health began with The Last Thing, a monologue by Myra Slotnick. Standing still in a beam of light Sven Ruygrok sensitively delivered this poem encapsulating life, love and death in a reminder of life’s fragility.
Dancing began with Ndindwa’s Observatory for New York’s Battery Dance. Working in different group numbers through floor slides, body ripples, jumps onto shoulders, and weighted arm swings, these five, well trained, well rehearsed, dancers told about a “journey between places, people and experiences”.
A point for future consideration: because floor mats and background were black and dancers wore black ankle socks and shoes, legs too often looked footless thus spoiling line and shapes.
Spaniards Alvaro Esteban and Elias Aguirre performed their own energetic duet Entomo. Set to Samuel Aguilar they bounced baboon-like, slithered boneless arms snake-like, mated, jerked and tumble-turned in a bizarre gymnastic manner.
Crossing cultural divides, Siddharthiya Pillary in her solo Escape brought Western influence to Bharatha Natyam. Her colourful costume (welcome relief from black and white and jeans) her elegant fingers, head and eyes held attention. So too did Kristen Wilson in Adele Blank’s plotless en pointe contemporary solo. One moment Wilson twisted her limbs into barley-sugar-like twists, the next she swiftly rose onto pointe to perform a double pirouette. She has easy, light elevation, is a very refined dancer, with gracious lines who one hopes to see more often in longer more demanding works.
Pushing “the edge” sometimes means creating “something unfathomable”. Perhaps if Qaphela Ceasar by Jay Pather had been presented in its entirety instead of excerpts its departure point might have been clearer.
As it was, dancers wearing piggy masks, pushing cabbages, with foreheads, along the floor, pegging “bits and pieces” onto a washing line left viewers rather bewildered. However, this unusual piece made a good talking point.
The People’s Stage on Artscape’s Piazza showcased young dancers of the future from CAFDA, Cape Junior Ballet and Dance for All. Although audience numbers generally disappointed, this first contemporary Cape Town International Dance Festival warrants repeating.