Location! Location! Location!
By Kivithra Naicker (Guest Writer)
New Orleans based BODYART Dance Company’s work has showcased extensively from NYC to Edinburgh to New Zealand (to name a few) and luck-fully lands in Durban and on this year’s Digital JOMBA! “Legacy Programme” which promises a delicious feast. This four course dance banquet is served in two parts; ‘Dance for Camera’ and ‘Dance for Stages’.
Leslie Scott, the founder and artistic director combines her sharp eye and experience in a masterful way that brings about a synergy between bodies and spaces. As our world faces unprecedented times head on, these five works transport us to locations reminiscent of simpler times and takes us to those spaces that may very well have been taken for granted.
‘Dance for Camera’ presents three dance films which is a visual delight for the senses. Directed and edited by Scott, afternoon gold premiered at the Portland Dance Film Festival in 2018. Performed by Rachel Abrahams, this film flits between instagrammable frames of concrete and nature and ties well together with the citified short film legal canvas (2017). re/stage (2012) which premiered at Triskelion Film Festival in Brooklyn evokes alluringly gorgeous images of bodies moving in a forgotten albeit once regal and live space. ‘Dance for Camera’ brings a love making of body and space to the screen.
‘Dance for Stages’ takes us to the theatre under Scott’s direction in which both WATER STORY (2019) and THREAD (2014) captivate and transfix simultaneously. Scott’s expertise with photography is clearly visible as images dance to life, and with the performers. These two dance theatre pieces are performed by a diverse cast of dancers who exude a symbiotic energy that comes through the screen.
Leslie Scott demonstrates incredible synergy in each work which consistently contrasts to each other in location, music and costume. The works move between enchanting and amusing to meditative; certainly a binge-worthy feast of dance.
BODYART Dance Company’s ‘Dance for Camera’ and ‘Dance for Stage’ programme can be viewed via https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/whats-on-today/ as part of the Digital JOMBA! “Legacy Programme” at 19h00 (SAST) on Wednesday 2nd September and again at 12:00 (SAST) on 3rd September.
