Dance company to premiere epic new work
BRAAMFONTEIN - Following a triumphant 2013 that saw Vuyani Dance Theatre grace stages from France to the USA, the company will premiere an epic new work at Joburg Theatre.
Large-scale production Full Moon will grace the Mandela stage from 30 April until 11 May.
The Johannesburg-based contemporary African dance company was founded by award-winning dancer, choreographer and artistic director Gregory Maqoma.
Maqoma said he was “over the moon” about this new adventure in dance, which will feature 25 South African dancers accompanied by the South African National Youth Orchestra.
“[It is] certainly the biggest contemporary dance production produced in Johannesburg to date,” he said.
Maqoma described Full Moon as an “evocative dance odyssey that transports audiences from a celestial terrain of galaxies in outer space to the oceans, mountains and rivers of earth, set against a stirring aural backdrop of live original music, composed by Isaac Molelekoa under the artistic direction of Luyanda Sidiya”.
“It is a transformational journey to the stars and back, to the fairylands of our ancestors – the lands we once knew and continue to desire. The piece slips softly between myth, truth and the unknown.”
Vuyani’s 15th anniversary and new production will also mark the beginning of a partnership between the dance company and the orchestra, which itself marks 50 years of training and developing the nation’s young musicians this year.
This year will also see the dance company perform Four Seasons at the Market Theatre in February, before it heads off to Germany, Sweden and France. An American tour and a short season at the National Arts Festival is also on the cards for the dance company this year.
Details: 0861 670 670; www.joburgtheatre.com
