I bumped in to a young lady at Pick ‘n Pay cash
register whilst paying for my homeopathy knick-knacks that I will later use in
making a potent preventative cold remedy.
I took one look at her face beat from here to Cairo, complete with palm
leaves-esque stick-on-lashes. I thought; She is totes a ballet dancer.
I turn to her and make a statement; ‘you are so
gorgeous’ she smiles gracefully and thanks me. From our short encounter I learn
that she is indeed a dancer and she is dancing in two plays “BitterSweet” and
“Between The Lines” presented by Cape Academy of Performing. I tell her I have
a ticket booked and I shall be attending “Between The Lines”
the following day.
… She sashays out of the grocery store only like a
dancer can.
I mean how could I resist the two Cape Academy of Performing Arts productions; Mthuthuzeli November
was pimped out by CAPA and used as a Spornosexual poster child of
Grahamstown National Arts Festival 2014. Like a friend of mine once declared to
me; ‘I have seen what chiseled washboard abs and defined muscles can do for a
Mosadi. I also want it’. Read between the lines…
It has been said that most of the poetry and
choreography in the two respective productions are written and created by the
students themselves which allegedly gives the shows an authentic and genuine
appeal which can be appreciated by a diverse audience.
The pieces were a mix bag of contemporary ballet, belting out some notes,
streaks of drama, slam poetry, classical ballet tease, some sugar, spice and
sass. Group
choreographies were at times awkward and painful to watch but where they fell
short the next story would be a solo or a duet; therefore salvaging the awaks
vibes and creating a balance.
Naturally, November’s solos, choreographed by
himself, in both ‘Between The Line’ and ‘BitterSweet’ were an absolute
euphoria. As odd as it was to watch, I really enjoyed the ‘Whites &
Brights’ story choreographed by Michelle Reid (BitterSweet). Inhale/Exhale
(BitterSweet), a duet choreographed by Grant Van Ster was SEX on the dance
floor delivered by Londiwe Khoza and Nathan Bartman – it gave me life!
It was quite refreshing to see a true representation
of all body shapes despite the genre of dance being predominantly ballet. I
guess it was all khumbaya CAPA sales pitch.
Nathan Bartman, Mthuthuzeli November and
Londiwe Khoza; respectively and in combo were a sight of sheer brilliance on
the floor. Although Novemeber’s physique cakes, cakes, cakes may look
like he is one protein bar away from being muscles-bound. His movements were
delivered seamlessly with precision, conviction and the lightness of an acid
pink feather boa. At times his self-assurance overshadowed the delivery. At
some point he would totes get in to reverie and abounded ballet-somber-poker-face
look substituting it with a little bit of sass-realness-smirk like; yaaaaasss I
got this!
I would pay a buck to watch the pieces again sans homestead student cast vibes.
P.S Images on this post are from ‘BitterSweet’, I
didn’t photograph ‘Between The Lines’.
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