THOUGHT-PROVOKING CONTEMPORARY DANCE AT JOMBA!’s
By Samkelisiwe Nxumalo
On 5th September multifaceted artist — a dancer, choreographer, cultural promoter, musician, and actor Pak Ndjamena from Mozambique performed “DEUS NOS ACUDI/ GOD HELPS US” at UKZN’s Sneddon Theatre. What an amazing performance! He takes Mozambican ritual movements and transforms them into contemporary dance. At the start, he has his face covered with a t-shirt, which may represent a person who has eyes but is blind to see the truth or the reality. His hands were painted with red to show that even the sinners who have blood on their hands still use the bible to preach the name of God. As he started to pour white powder on the table, I was fascinated because I had never seen a stage in such a mess, but it was not only about mess, but it seemed that he was trying to represent all kinds of African people.
During his on-stage interview after the performance, he revealed that for this work he looked at how Brazilian people had a habit of saying “God help us” and seeing churches taking over the society. This linked to a moment in his performance when he was punching the bible. He rubs the bible in his face as a way of showing that society only sees what the bible says, and the people who sin use the same bible for bad intentions which makes people end up having bad spirits. He used the table which had pieces of papers as his prop, which I think symbolizes the church where people go to be taught about the bible, as he first put it under the table. I think he was trying to show us that there is a lot that is kept hidden, beyond the pastors there is a life he/she is living. In other words, he was telling us that what is presented to us may be incomplete or untrue. He shows the relationship he has with his prop, as he dances on top of the table, underneath it, and curling up on it.
He includes the audience in his performance by entering the auditorium and asking them to read the bible. We become active participants. He started to provoke the audience to start questioning the colour of skin by asking “What colour am I right now?” as he had his body covered in powder: “What is the colour of my skin?”. The audience said different colours: black, white, and brown which showed the confusion people have when they are labelling. So it comes to a point where we need to question ourselves as to the need for labelling our skin differences. My favourite quote from Pak Ndjamena’s interview is: “There isn’t black and white when it comes to skin, those are just colours and we are human beings”.
