My Body My Space showcases Solitude – Glaring, dancer’s new work
Dancer and choreographer Smangaliso Ngwenya's new work, Solitude – Glaring, will be showcased at My Body My Space in Mpumalanga in March.
Among the many visually brilliant works of art My Body My Space (MBMS) will showcase this year is Solitude – Glaring, performed by dancer and choreographer Smangaliso Ngwenya.
Held in rural Mpumalanga on March 10–15, MBMS is described as a large-scale international festival of public performances, exhibitions, and cultural events, curated by The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative.
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It is Ngwenya’s opinion that creatives come from society. That, in some way or another, they are inspired, influenced, and embody stories from society. “We put these stories on stage to communicate and relate with, and for, society.” He sees the performing arts as a medium of communication, which fulfils numerous purposes as it holds a mirror to society, to teach us, as members of society, of our realities – bad or good.
It was while studying towards a Bachelor of Journalism at Rhodes University in 2013 that he started training with the First Physical Theatre Dance Company. Dance was not something introduced to him, instead it had always been innately part of his being. “The language I use choreographically is informed by a movement vocabulary that existed before any training or experiences in my tertiary education.” Dance and movement form the foundation of his being, as it is the one medium of communication that thoroughly communicates his state of being.
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For this Wits Cultural Policy & Arts Management MA graduate, the most sentimental and meaningful work that connects to him is Evelyn, as it is a tribute to a highly prolific person in his life who passed away – His mother. Geared towards providing anyone who experiences it a delve into a world where they connect, re-connect, and reminisce about those who have passed away. “The work shook, and continues to shake, my core, and reminds me of the pertinence of moving from an internal space, presence, and process. It upheaved the importance of telling stories that the body holds as a sacred uniqueness where the truth of a story lies.”
Dance, for him, can tell all things unspoken. “It reveals and unveils an embodied expression the supersedes the spoken word. I believe the body is intelligent and has its own movement and communicative language.” He says dance expresses from the pit of emotions, and leaves no stone unturned, to the extent that simply repeating movement can emote extensively more than speaking the emotion. “It its therapy, and when done with freedom, integrity, and presence is limitless.”
At MBMS, Ngwenya will be one of the programme’s opening performances where he will perfectly show how dance has always been, and will always be, a part of him. “It is the most primal, fundamental, and pertinent existence of myself. It morphs with all stages and states of me. It is who I am and through it I breathe and find life.”
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