Dance celebration promises poetry in motion

Joburg Ballet’s Celebration 6, a blend of classical ballet and contemporary dance, will blaze across The Fringe’s stage in August.

The two-day event will showcase ballets not seen in Joburg for some time and ballets that have not yet been performed in the city.

Dance lovers can look forward to seeing Chopin, Secret, Life and My Reverie, as well as the company premiere of Thami Majela’s Metamoffiesies.

Joburg Ballet spokesperson Lindsay McDonald said the event continued the company’s policy of providing a platform for new South African choreography, and that the company received “generous funding” from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

Speaking about the pieces included in the programme, McDonald said Chopin, named after composer Frederic Chopin, whose music is used in the ballet, was originally choreographed by Michael Revie and Yarisha Singh for Mzansi Productions.

“Adding a dash of Cuban brilliance are the contemporary male solos Secret, danced by Ramiro Samón, and Life, danced by Javier Monier,” said McDonald.

Secret was choreographed by the company’s principal dancer and ballet master, Michael Revie, and Life was choreographed by senior soloist, Angela Revie.

The senior soloist’s choreography was higlighted at the Latvian International Ballet Competition, where company dancers Jessica Overton and James Fraser performed her pas de deux, My Reverie, which won Revie a choreography award.

Overton and Fraser will dance My Reverie in Celebration 6.

“Another special treat for audiences will be the opportunity to see [our] prima ballerina Burnise Silvius and soloist Jonathan Rodrigues in the great balcony pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet,” said McDonald.

The piece will use music by Sergei Prokofiev and choreography by one of the last century’s leading ballet personalities, Nicolas Beriosoff.

Majela’s Metamoffiesies will offer audiences an exploration of the “deformity” of sexuality set to music by Kazue Mizushima.

“This work is in-line with [our] aim to reflect issues that form the realities of modern life,” he said.

Majela worked with the company with the permission of the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative.

Celebration 6 will take place on 15 and 16 August at The Fringe Theatre at the Joburg Theatre complex, corner of Simmonds and Stiemens streets, Braamfontein.

Details: 0861 670 670; www.joburgtheatre.com