THE Flatfoot Dance Company, under the direction of founder, Professor Lliane Loots, recently turned the stage at Hillcrest High School into a South African history lesson – all through dance and movement.

Portraying a pivotal scene in our country’s history, the 1976 Soweto Uprising, commemorated as Youth Day on June 16, the dancers brought the anger, fear and sorrow of that day to life with their bodies.

“When dancer Siseko Duba carried the limp body of a fellow dancer to the front of the stage it was a powerful depiction of the iconic photograph of 12-year-old Hector Pieterson being carried by another student through the streets of Soweto after he was shot,” said subject head of drama at Hillcrest High School (HHS), Samantha Macdonald.

Pieterson was shot and killed on June 16, 1976 when police opened fire on black students in Soweto who were protesting the enforcement of Afrikaans as the language of instruction for all.

“It was incredibly powerful imagery and recognised by the learners who watched spellbound as the dancers turned history into art,” said Macdonald.

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Using the epic book-length poem, “History is the Home Address,” by renowned South African poet and activist Mongane Wally Serote as their inspiration, the dance troupe wove their magic on stage, delivering a passionate and moving retelling of the struggle story. From anger to sorrow, grief to joy, celebration through to suffering, the choreography brought to life the history of our continent, seen through the eyes of a mother.

“After the performance, Professor Loots engaged with the learners, asking them what the piece evoked, what they felt it represented, what they saw in the work,” said Macdonald. “She explained that portraying a work through movement is not about miming, it is about using the body and layering of music to evoke emotions. She stressed the importance of the work being truthful to the artist, because then it will be truthful to the audience.”

The performance was followed by a training session for the HHS Drama learners, with the Flatfoot dancers demonstrating various dance movements and safe lifting techniques, imparting valuable performance skills and a true sense of how to turn history into an artform.

About Flatfoot Dance Company

Flatfoot began in 1994 as a part-time training programme that aimed to offer contemporary dance training to any Durban/eThekwini-based dancers who were able to make the classes. The company began with no funding and simply the goodwill and political and artistic impulse to offer dance training to primarily black dancers who have historically and economically been denied access due to the apartheid systems.

Flatfoot prides itself on the extensive dance development and dance education work it undertakes in both rural and urban areas of KwaZulu-Natal..

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