DANCING EVERY DAY TO MERGE RELIGION AND ART IN RECONCILIATORY EMBRACE
By Tammy Ballantyne (Guest Writer)
Yaseen Manuel is this year’s Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Artist in Residence. His three month residency is shared with the UKZN Drama and Performance Studies programme and the Centre for Creative Arts JOMBA! Festival. Cape Town based Manuel has created two dance films for the 23rd JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience: Unhinged with Flatfoot Dance Company and Al-Kitab, a solo work on himself.
In a candid and open interview with me, softly-spoken Manuel chatted about his work, his choreographic processes and his everyday lived struggle to reconcile his dance-making with his Muslim spirituality. He talked about “feeling overwhelmed by the Mellon Foundation award but also excited about my first time doing dance on film.” He described the process of having to adapt to working in a digital space “quite nerve-wracking” but that working with his videographer, Kieshia Solomon, “helped me to understand that seeing it visually as if the work will be in a theatre, is not going to happen; I had to capture the sweet spots.”
Unhinged involved choreographing via Zoom with the company and then, with Covid restrictions in place, having a tight timeframe to work in studio and then shooting it in two days at the Toolbox — a yoga studio in Durban. The theme of the work deals with schizophrenia and mental illness, pertinent to the state we find ourselves in after living in various states of lockdown for almost 18 months:
“I asked the dancers to imagine what it must be like to be in that mind that is unhinged; I always start with task-based research and improvisation with the dancers and then move into choreographic blocks; symbolic gesture is also key in my work”, he told me. Manuel’s process is infused with tools and insights gained from his ongoing work with Unmute Dance Company, an integrated performance company in Cape Town.
Answering my question as to how Unmute’s philosophy has enhanced his own practice he replied:
“Inclusivity is at the heart of their work and they deal with ground-breaking topics that speak to SA; they have moulded my mind and how I view things — to look and think differently — and not to be afraid of being disturbed.”
Manuel is forthright about his struggle to be both a dancer and a devout follower of Islam. In 2017, he presented Aslama on the then JOMBA! Fringe, a solo work interrogating identity, race and religion against the background of the Syrian massacre. In 2018, the solo was developed into a full-scale ensemble work with Flatfoot. The violence of politics and anger mirrored Manuel’s personal confrontation of the ‘holy war’ we fight within ourselves; the rituals and beliefs we must interrogate in order to move forward.
Al-Kitab continues the narrative in a new solo work which he describes as “poking and prodding and questioning why I cannot be both Muslim and a dancer? Both human beings are inside of me, if God wants us to be happy, why can’t I express it? Who cancelled dance? Why is it ok to move on in some aspects of the Muslim faith but not in others? ”
The depth of his inner battles is profound and he finds a sense of peace and stillness by bringing these issues to light through theatre: “In a sense it is a kind of healing for me, a settling of my craft and perhaps I can bring awareness to others; I cannot resolve it completely but I will continue provoking.”
Manuel’s works will be screened on 2nd September at 19:00 (CAT).
The CCA’s JOMBA! 2021 runs from 24 August to 5 September and can be navigated free of charge via the website www.jomba.ukzn.ac.za or subscribe to the JOMBA YouTube channel here: https://www.YouTube.com/Jomba_Dance
A full programme is available via the website.
