Embedded urgency in Deeply Rooted’s quality ensemble
By Genesis Cele
Co-founded by Kevin Iega Jeff and under the artistic direction of former dancer, Nicole Clarke-Springer, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater transcends borders of space through the transformation of art and beauty that is deemed acceptable in the contemporary dance world. It merges classical and contemporary American styles as well as African-American forms of storytelling and dance. In pursuit of diversity, DRDT is continuously branching out while deepening roots at home (in Chicago) and abroad too. For almost seven years DRDT has collaborated with South African artists through the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Festival. Last night they kick-started the JOMBA! Legacy programme and showcased excerpts from three of their previous works.
Indumba choreographed by SA’s Fana Tshabalala, speaks to the cyclic nature of the unsettled issues of the apartheid era. An “Indumba” is a circular African healing hut where a traditional healer goes and cleanses people from bad spirits. The work calls for healing and the breaking of cyclical, unresolved issues that still affect South Africans today. Not only does the music give you a sense of being in a trance-like state that references the healing rituals that take place in an Indumba, but the work has beautiful moments of contact improvisation and vigorous repetition which also speak to the ever-present oppressiveness of the apartheid regime that still haunts Black people today.
Choreographed by Gary Abbott, Parallel Lives tells the complex and painful stories of “lower-class” women who share stories of life-altering events. The stage, as a meeting place for the women, reminded me of a stokvel, where women meet to help each other financially and to speak about their lives. The title of the work comes alive in the similarity of the stories the women share and the patterns and shapes created, with music shifting from being dreamlike to nightmarishly freaky. When a woman dances her story, all the other women sit in a pentagonal shape and watch her dance. The ending is very powerful, with the women marching, almost like warriors, ready to take on the world.
Dance Revival choreographed by Durban’s Tshediso Kabulu is an excerpt from the full-length work Goshen that looks at biblical themes of power, oppression and deliverance and how they manifest in a contemporary setting. When I first saw the work, I thought, “I want to be on that stage!” The music by Donald Lawrence brought a liveness to the work that made it feel like a true revival. The voices of the church choir at the back of the stage, the colourfulness of the costumes on stage, the celebration of multiple forms of dance on stage, classical, contemporary and commercial, can truly renew one’s spirit.
The final screening of DRDT’s programme is this afternoon at 12:00 (SAST), available for free through http://www.jomba.ukzn.ac.za
