Sizwe Hlophe’s “Tran(ce)itions” opened this year’s Jomba! Fringe. Photography by Val Adamson.

Putting the personal onstage with dances on gender, masculinity and coping with loss

A review of JOMBA! Fringe by Siphokazi Sotsaka

Lauren Warnecke
Sep 4, 2018 · 3 min read

The JOMBA! Fringe on the 1st of Sept. was incredible, with a level of professionalism I haven’t seen in young performers. I felt something during the performance, seeing the creativity of these young people telling stories that we are aware of, but not having the idea of how it feels live with the scars of losing a parent, how it feels to know that our journey will come to an end one day, or to imagine the world with no gender. All these concepts were presented well by these young people through their work.

When Thulisile Binda enters the stage situating herself in relation to some picture frames, doing her first move I started to feel how she felt, her emotion was really strong. I felt that her story was personal and connected to my story, because we had an emotional connection. She battled to sit up, and kept holding the Bible. I feel like she was hopeless but found strength in Lord. In this work, the Bible represents God, and when Binda portrays the loss of her parents through her use of props, and emotion in her dance, her only help was God. The picture that she picked up is of her mom and her dad; she puts that specific picture close to her heart, perhaps indicating that both parents have passed away, not just one. When she paints herself with traditional white clay, it was as though she was cleansing herself of the trauma of losing her parents, and the trials and tribulations she must have gone through. We see this because the water was not clear — it had clay in it. The fact that she performed topless was part of acknowledging her culture. With perfect technique, she danced so effortlessly. I really enjoyed her performance.

“Tran(ce)tions,” by Sizwe Hlophe examines the different stages of manhood, using background projections showing different stages of growing from birth to death — a story very well told. The lighting, by Tina Le Roux, became most important, closing off the space and giving the idea of being trapped in certain areas of the stage as a way to portray the performers as being caught in cultural norms. This was well presented by the two performers, Hlophe and Mzamo Kunene; their dancing was amazing. They are very talented and creative even though I could not hear the words while they were praying because the music was too loud. I feel like they wanted to be heard, because they were saying these words at the top of their voices, leading me to think this was a technical problem.

First after the interval, the title “Space Zer(0)” itself has a deeper meaning. “Gender” and “race” — these two major words create the gap (the space) between femininity and masculinity. “Imagine life with no gender,” is their concept listed in the program. There is a huge gap brought by these terms, leading to how we dress or are “supposed” to dress as females. What differentiates us from males? All these questions build on the whole idea of the body being political: gender issues, sexual differences, feminist resistance. Women are not allowed to walk naked, they are expected to always wear a bra, and be dressed in a “certain way.” However, the cast of women performs with men’s T-shirts, as a symbol of breaking the barriers. The idea of taking off heels in the middle of the performance, and undressing one of the performers on stage was provocative, meant to make a statement about breaking the barrier of gender.

Of the six works on the Fringe this year, these were the three that “spoke” most to me, because they were so personal, and I felt because I know a lot of people who have gone through these things, facing challenges and obstacles surrounding gender, masculinity and how losses become permanent.

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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