When the process is as poignant as the product
A reflection on Unmute and Flatfoot Dance by Tammy Ballantyne
I write this as purely subjective observations of a studio showing of two works to be presented on JOMBA! later this week: “The Longitude of Silence”, a collaboration between Unmute’s Andile Vellem and Flatfoot’s Lliane Loots and the dancers, and “Aslama” by Yaseen Manuel of Unmute for Flatfoot.
As I sat on the floor of the dance studio, I recalled my own training here years ago — how those seeds planted then grew in me, gave me the tools with which to write, analyse, execute and perform with a deep sense of myself and how I could go further than what I knew and was accustomed to.
As I watched the dancers, I thought of Loots’ opening speech this year, where she highlighted community as a key point in collaboration, and a coming together to make something new. Here were Andile Vellem, Nadine McKenzie, Lionel Ackerman and Manuel from the Cape, a mixed-ability company discovering and shaping a work with the Flatfoots from KZN. Here was community in action, not only through idea-sharing but recognising and respecting the gift of movement transcending limitations and barriers.
My children sat beside me and I wondered if they would see beyond the so-called “disabilities” in the space. How would they receive the work performed completely in silence (though a violinist will be there for the performance), and about the great chasm of silence experienced by a deaf person? My daughter, ever calm and poised, was totally drawn in — she told me she liked the quiet and the sound of their breath. My son was transfixed by the quality of the movement and the power in the bodies. They saw those bodies as equals.
Manuel’s “Aslama,” developed from his solo on the JOMBA! Fringe last year and created with assistance from Flatfoot’s Sifiso Khumalo, is now a full-scale group work. It is deeply personal, based on Manuel’s own struggles with his Muslim faith within the wider context of the conflict in Syria, which has had a profound effect on him.
“Aslama” investigates the violence of politics and anger; it is Manuel’s personal “Jihad” which he confronts every day, the “holy war” we fight within ourselves, or the rituals and beliefs we must interrogate in order to move forward. At times the work is unrelenting, marked by overt, repeated signs and gestures. And there are moments of great tenderness, the duets where the women wash the men’s faces — surely a cleansing ritual, a pathway to hope?
I was moved — it is a privilege to be invited in to see the inner workings, to see the effort and the sweat, to get that close-up view of a choreographer’s vision. I like the stripped-down effect of the studio: one can really engage with the vocabulary, watch the sinuous bodies interact and get the message without special effects. I like the starkness of the space; I didn’t need any projections and video footage — the real charged emotion and physicality in the studio and the soundtrack are enough.
Now, more than ever, the need for context and a way into the process, are key factors in interpreting contemporary SA dance. With the demise of so many dance companies, how do these artists hold onto their training, and how do they grow if there’s no input?
JOMBA! has created a safe place in which to hold onto the hope Loots articulated at the opening of the festival. This showing demonstrated the generosity of sharing, and art as healing — the healing of physical scars, the remnants of trauma, and invisible emotional scars. This space allowed the dancers to find the rhythm in the silence, to hear each other and to expel a collective breath.
Unmute and Flatfoot Dance Company present “The Longitude of Silence” and “Aslama” Thursday 6 Sept. at 19.30 in the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Tickets are R80, available online at http://bit.ly/2wzubVg, or in the box office one hour before the performance.
