Represent Review: Imperial Russian Ballet
Representah Werner scored some points with his wifey by sweeping her off to the Imperial Russian Ballet at the Civic aka Nelson Mandela Theatre. He says it’s a must see – so go on… treat your lady. See it! But hurry it’s showing from now ’till the 24th June. It is not very often that we have the privilege of being captivated by truly world class performances from international artists. Well, if you have been sitting on the sideline waiting for such an event, the wait is finally over. The Imperial Russian Ballet troupe is currently visiting South Africa and thrilling audiences for a limited number of performances. As the name suggests the group is from Moscow and was founded in 1994 by legendary Russian ballet dancer Maya Plisetskaya. The company has already toured several countries including diverse countries such as Australia, Japan, Germany and many more. The choreography, albeit mostly classical, tends to lean to the modernist style unique to performances we have learnt to expect from Russia. The stage design, costumes and wonderful music is only outdone by the incredible talent of the performers. The programme is unique in the sense that it is broken into two distinctive acts consisting of a number of interpretations of well known ballet masterpieces. The first act is dedicated to George Bizet’s “Carmen” and is a truly a fitting introduction to an evening of spectacular dance. The second act comprises of a number of restyled ballets that include “Swan Lake”, “Nutcracker”, “Don Quixote” and “Orpheus in the Underworld”. Audiences will be overwhelmed by the wealth of talent that exists within the troupe and left breathless by the masterful performances of dancers like Anastasia Mikheikina, Nariman Bekzhanov and Kirill Rad. The repertoire of the cast includes numerous well known ballets and it is clearly evident that the production and performers are set to thrill audiences worldwide for quite some time to come. The production is currently staged at the Nelson Mandela Theatre and runs from 19th to the 24th of June 2007. Lovers of the performing arts should note that this is truly one production that is not to be missed. Details: Venue: NELSON MANDELA THEATRE Date: June 19th – 24th Price: (from) R125 inclusive of booking fee THE IMPERIAL RUSSIAN BALLET IMPERIAL RUSSIAN BALLET was founded in April 1994, on the initiative of the legendary Russian ballet dancer Maya Plisetskaya. The group’s name is a tribute to both former “emperors” of the stage – immortal founders of the Russian ballet stage, and to the Emperor’s family, that had made a great historical contribution into native culture, including the foundation of the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Theatres....
Kelis was in the Green House!
What an awesome night at Joburg’s best new venue, the temporary Dome at Constitution Hill or “ConHill” as we fondly call it. Represent’s home is just next door – so we could hear the bands warming up in the afternoon and see the green glow as the evening approached – it was to be a night that would be hard to forget. See the photies here. The gorgeous architectural lines of the urban setting were junglefied and turned to green as Heineken made their mark as the first event in the awesome dome. At first the crowd was reluctant to go inside to dance to Lady Leah – everyone was cosy in the plush outside bar and lounge area soaking up the magnificent urban panorama. Sexy aluminium (we think) Heineken bottles clinked as old friends reunited – it was certainly the hip crowd of Jozi with everybody who’s somebody snacking on the abundant food on offer. We’re not talking about two-bit celebs, leaches or wannabes, we’re talking about the creme de la artists, comedians, musicians, film makers, creatives, journalists, event organisers, PR peeps, paparazzi, IT heads… the place to be! Certainly an inspiring diverse and happening crowd. The Hillbrow tower watched over us as revellers bopped to the poppy electro tunes of Tamara Dey and her band Flash Republic, eagerly waiting for the suprise performer. It was none other than Kelis who’s performance blew us away and had the crowds chanting for more. She picked us up, shook us around a bit and left us dazzled by not only her gold attire but her fantastic talent and stage presence. It was one of those parties that ended in the inevitable dancing circles to the sounds of our old favourite DJ Monde – good to see him back on the decks – it’s been a while! Even Editorista gave a bash at some tsipa’ring but her twalatsa stole the show. Thing is, it’s been a long time since we’ve been to an event that had us excited, the mystery around the international act had a “Lucky Strike” underground feel to it and the buzz of the crowds was electric. Congrats to Sam, Melanie, Lebo and the rest of the team from Speakers Corner for yet another outstanding event. Big Ups to Heineken. You know you guys know what’s going on. We can’t wait for the next one. Hope you keen suprising us – that was your...
Represent Interview: KGAUZA DUBE
We like keeping an eye on some of the formidable people that we meet in life. Kgauhelo Dube is one of them. We love peeps who are full of their very own unique and unusual plans – but we REALLY love peeps who make them happen. Here’s one such person – self-created theatre producer “Kgauza” is taking her one-man show to the G-town festival – read all about how she made the change from PR into theatre and make sure to catch “Waiting for Thandiwe” in G-town. Big ups sisi and break a leg! You inspire us. “Waiting for Thandiwe” – Grahamstown Schedule Venue: Dicks Hall (in the Monument) Tickets: R50/ Students R40 July 2007: Mon 2 10:00 Tue 3 14:00 Wed 4 18:00 Thu 5 12:00 Fri 6 22:00 Sat 7 14:00 Represent: So Kgauza, give us the short version of your backstory if you don’t mind… from birth to now… KG: I am an energetic 25 year-old Pretorian … and have close affinity to my hometown…I think my personality is very reflective of Tshwane…sunny, jazzy and free-spirited. When I was growing up I never wanted anything to do with media or journalism because I used to miss my Mom, who was a busy journalist for the Sowetan…I guess, ironically, I ended up studying Integrated Marketing Communications and landed my first gig in PR and that’s when the media bug got me. After PR, I moved on to strategic planning within advertising, which I quite liked until I made a major move to give the ad game a bit of a break and apply my strategic thinking to advance the arts & culture fraternity, which definitely needs more support on the strategy side in order for it an economically viable industry. Theatre was a genre for me to decide on due to my love for it from an early age. I remember attending all the plays at the school festivals held in high school, yet…I’m not an actor. Momentarily, I am producing “Waiting for Thandiwe”, a romantic 1-man comedy under my baby…my company called Black Curtain Theatre Movement, in partnership with Lulama Masimi, who wrote and starred in the play. Black Curtain Theatre Movement aims to take theatre out of its conventional theatre confines, which at times doesn’t appeal to the youth and also and most importantly, make theatre cool! Another exciting project I am working on is the Newtown Women in Arts Festival; which is happening in August. I am the Deputy Festival Manager and am thoroughly excited about being part of the women-focused cultural revolution! Check out the http://www.newtown.co.za/ site in a few weeks for the programming! Represent: I remember you inviting...
Exciting! City experts in Jozi to plan future
Thanks to one of our favourite local sites, Joburg.org, for always keeping us in touch with what’s happening in our city. Apparently a whole lot of urban planning honcho’s are here at the moment helping city developers plan the future of Johannesburg – it’s so exciting living in such a time of change – particularly in a city with such incredible potential. Appropriately, the conference is taking place at the Civic theatre in Braamies and will focus on the inner city transformation, drawing from actual success stories and existing examples of cities that have cinderella’d like Birmingham, Vancouver and Paris. More from the City of Johannesburg website here – George Matlala reports: Foreign experts have been invited to discuss their cities’ urban planning challenges and successes, so that Joburg can learn from their experiences. URBAN planners from some of the world’s largest and most successful cities are expected to attend a four-day conference to discuss turning Johannesburg into a world-class city. Nine representatives from cities such as New York, Paris, Vancouver and Birmingham, will be in Johannesburg to participate in its International Conference on Planning, running from Sunday, 17 June to Wednesday, 20 June. It is being held at the Civic Theatre in Braamfontein. According to Phillip Harrison, the executive director in the City’s department of development planning and urban management, the main aim of the conference is to learn how other big cities have handled the challenges of development. “We want to learn what has made their cities so successful.” The team comprises of urban planners, academics and representatives of the city council of Birmingham, England and a regional planning agency in Paris, France. They will share their experience in inner city regeneration, precinct development and sustainability, and strategic planning of projects. The conference will explore practical ways of rejuvenating the Joburg inner city. From Joburg, there will be members of City departments and agencies, including the Johannesburg Development Agency, and representatives from the University of the Witwatersrand’ s school of architecture and the South African Cities Network. Inner city regeneration On Monday, there will be a case study looking at how Birmingham and Vancouver, in Canada successfully developed their inner cities, Harrison says, noting that it will give delegates an opportunity to learn more about the development of Joburg’s inner city. The following day delegates will split into working teams that will tour the inner city to check development progress and problems. With work on sports stadiums and Gautrain stations steaming ahead, the City hopes to learn how the French handled and sustained developments related to the 1998 Fifa World Cup™, held in that country. Harrison says it is important...
Represent Review: The Invader
Catch The Invader this week at Wits Theatre – our Representah Linda gives us her view on the seemingly controversial play: I sit down in the Wits Amphitheatre, ready to watch the play “The Invader”. A very loud rock song is pulsing through the speakers, filling the auditorium. I can’t figure out what the song is because I don’t know any rock music released post-1992, when I finished school and began to exercise my long-awaited right to choose what music to listen to. But I digress…. The song is LOUD… but through it I can hear voices raised, people are fighting, a man and a woman. The argument seems to be coming from backstage, and seems quite incongruous with the song, so I’m wishing the stage manager would realise they’ve left the music on, and turn it off, because the play is about to start. It carries on though, and I start thinking… maybe there’s a serious argument backstage and the music is being played to drown it out while we wait. All kinds of scenarios are playing themselves out in my imagination about who is arguing – maybe the director cheated on his actress girlfriend, and she is now refusing to go on stage; or somebody is throwing an artistic tantrum about the props…(yeah I’m a gossip junkie, sometimes). The drama unfolds in my mind until I realise the backstage argument is part of the script. A young girl comes running out on stage, a pantsula type of dude right on her tail yelling and screaming all kinds of obscenities at her. She is running from him, trying to duck his hands slapping her, trying to outrun his feet kicking her, she’s frantically throwing whatever obstacle she can find into his path to slow him. But he catches up to her and assaults her. The scene is rough. He beats her, calls her a whore, and rapes her. All the while the rock tune continues playing, LOUD. While I want it to stop playing so I can hear better what he’s saying to her, I’m actually grateful it is playing, so I don’t have to hear it; and the song also distracts me from listening to her anguished screams. Much respect to the young actress, she will go far. This is the powerful opening scene of “The Invader”. The rest of the play is about the theme of rape and sexual violence – from the story of rape victims turned sexual aggressors, to women raped at a young age, who think they’ve dealt with the issue until it comes back to haunt them in adult life, to male victims of rape....
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