Kristi-Leigh Gresse performs in her Standard Bank Gold Ovation award winning “Sullied” at the Jomba! Fringe, 2017. Photography by Val Adamson.

Kristi-Leigh Gresse’s “Blank” reclaims space for women in fear

A preview of JOMBA! On the Edge by Saranya Devan

Lauren Warnecke
Sep 4, 2018 · 5 min read

Expectations run high as we await the work of choreographer and performer Kristi-Leigh Gresse, winner of the 2018 Standard Bank Gold Ovations award for her work “Sullied” at the National Arts Festival. “Sullied” premiered at last year’s JOMBA! Fringe.

This year we are fortunate to have Gresse present her work “Blank” at JOMBA! On the Edge. “Blank” is the sequel of “Sullied,” and the final leg of the healing process for Kristi’s journey as a female choreographer in a still gender-prejudiced South Africa.

At a time when rape statistics run high, women constantly live in fear of being sexually violated. We live alongside terrifying statistics: that South Africa is the “rape capital of the world;” that one in three South African women will be raped in her lifetime; that a woman is raped in the country every 26 seconds. Of the 124,526 total rape cases reported in the last 3 financial years, children were the victims of a sickening 41% of these cases.

Twenty-six year old Durban born-and-raised Gresse has chosen to dedicate her offering of “Blank” to all the women out there who have been forced into situations not of their own will. They have been forced to give into a patriarchal society. Their innocence is forcefully ripped off. They feel uncomfortable in their own bodies which have become objects for animalistic lust and desire.

“Blank” will open the debate on how women can negotiate in a space that promotes freedom, but in reality does not exist. Women are limited by how they dress, how they interact with people and in places or spaces where they might by patronised.

“Blank” is a symbol of starting afresh, a way of going forward and creating a clean state for the self in a cruel world.

Gresse has chosen to put herself in a blank, clean space, that will deconstruct all that that has been imprinted on her (symbolised by a blurry projection) by her surroundings and interactions, and what she has become of aware of along her journey through life. However, “Blank” aims to see if is it possible to have a clean slate. It is said, “You cannot know who you are without knowing who you are not.”

Gresse explores violated space in this work, the idea of how innocence, in the way she views her body and her interactions with men, has shaped her idea of her “personal violated space”. It’s the type of innocence one is not prepared for, even with friends you’ve interacted with, “being forced into doing something I was not sure I was ready for,” she said in an interview.

Training in classical ballet and modern dance and a degree in drama and performance and media studies from the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal moulded Gresse’s artistic identity. She views herself as not just being a choreographer but instead an artist who creates a conversation through her art. She went to practise what she learnt in the professional world by working at Durban’s Playhouse Dance Residency, which has allowed her to explore more than just dance but acting as well. From 2015 until now, she has been working in dance theatre and aims to be an independent artist on her own — being able to do what she wants to do.

The piece is set to be quite provocative, unwrapping and literally uncovering the image that is accorded to women today. With most of the piece set on a white podium box, “Blank” aims to help women reclaim their space. Women are pushed to fit into a box. The question is, how can we be more that just that which fits into a box? Gresse says the piece is provocative, yet also thinks the audience will find it pleasing to the eye.

Videography by Phumelele Majola will be used to enhance the piece through visual imagery which has been chosen to help set mood and emotion in the audience.

Another one for the all-girls team, and ensuring things are going to be “lit,” is a Chicago-based lighting designer and stage manager to JOMBA! 2018, Julie Ballard.

Extremely excited to be back in South Africa, Ballard is all set to be part of the three works of the evening by helping artists express their work/story/message through lighting.

This being her second trip to JOMBA! since being here in 2013 as part of the Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, Ballard told me: “It is because of the amazing crew and the experience of JOMBA! that I have come back.”

Ballard speaks affectionately of how she feels she has become a part of the community and the family atmosphere, especially being from so far away from the USA, yet still feeling at home. When Ballard got an e-mail to be a part of JOMBA! 2018, she could not refuse.

Gresse aims to use this platform, this space, to interrogate her ideas and have a greater purpose. She hopes to open up debate about the change that needs to take place.

“I invite everyone to take this journey with me in the hopes that it brings you growth and healing,” she said.

“I ask that anyone who is coming to the show to come with an open mind and a willingness to engage in dialogue with self and others. The work is never complete and the conversation needs to continue even when I have walked off the stage.”

Also featured on the programme is “Classi_filed”, choreographed and conceptualized by JC Zondi and co-directed by Simphiwe “Fiddy” Ngcobo, which depicts the role clothing plays in our lives. “Imvelo,” choreographed and performed by Tshediso Kabulu and Thamsanqa (Thami) Majela, is said to be a gentle and often intimate look at human relationships that journeys back to origins and beginnings.

JOMBA! on the Edge runs for one night only, 4 Sept. at 19.30 in the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Tickets are R80, available at Computicket: http://bit.ly/2wzubVg, or at the box office an hour before the performance.

JOMBA!/KHULUMA Blog

Online KHULUMA publication for the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Archives: http://jombakhuluma.blogspot.com

Lauren Warnecke

Written by

Chicago-based dance writer and critic

JOMBA!/KHULUMA Blog

Online KHULUMA publication for the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Archives: http://jombakhuluma.blogspot.com

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