Bright Young Thing: Musa Hlatshwayo
You know we love to share all things bright and beautiful with you across all artistic genres including dance – celebrate one of KZN’s true movers and shakers Musa Hlatshwayo, who’s choreography has been chosen to tour 10 countries across the African Continent. Some of you will remember the recent call for entries for Dance! Africa Dance! – Musa represented SA in Paris in 2006 and his star continues to rise – see below.
‘Umthombi’ – South African Dance on continental tour Musa Hlatshwayo, South African dancer and choreographer is going on tour in 10 countries on the continent to present the dance piece Umthombi.
The dance theatre duet is the narrative of a male adolescent who is in search of his traditional identity and manhood. In his quest, the young boy undergoes the rites of passage as set out by the traditions of his people. He learns accountability and responsibility, means that he applies as survival tools in the grazing fields. Aesthetically, the work explores creative movement, contemporary dance, sound and music in an attempt to explore the future of a uniquely African aesthetic in story telling. Umthombi premiered at the Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival in 2004, the year when Hlatshwayo was awarded the KZN Young Choreographer’s Commission by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) and the Jomba! Festival to create a dance piece for the festival. Umthombi also featured in the Dance Umbrella Festival in 2007.
Umthombi is not the first piece where Hlatshwayo incorporates tradition, at the FNB Dance Umbrella Festival in 2006; he presented a dance piece on Ukuqiniswa, the traditional practise of strengthening or safeguarding oneself from man-made evil forces such as witchcraft. Hlatshwayo is an internationally recognised dance professional who represented South Africa in the Danse! L’Afrique Danse! competition in Paris in 2006. (Applications for the 2008 edition of the competition which will be held in Tunisia can be downloaded from the French Institute website www.ifas.org.za/culture Deadline: 15 Nov)
The tour was organized by the French cultural network. Umthombi will be hosted in the following countries Kenya, Mauritius, Madagascar, Namibia, Zambia, Tanzania, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique from Sept to Nov this year. See schedule below: DATE City/Country Sept 2007 Nairobi, Kenya Sept 2007 Mauritius Oct 2007 Windhoek, Namibia Oct 2007 Lusaka, Zambia Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Djibouti Addis, Ethiopia Blantyre, Malawi Maputo, Mozambique Nov 2007 Antanarivo, Madagascar.
Here’s Musa’s backstory from the Centre for Creative Arts in KZN – pic by Val Adamson:
Born and raised in Maphumulo, KwaZulu-Natal, Musa Hlatshwayo holds a BA (Hons) in Performance Studies (UKZN), a Dance & Choreography Diploma from the Copenhagen School o fModern Dance (Denmark), a Postgraduate Certificate in Dance In Education (UKZN), and a BA in Media and Communication. Musa has danced for PHENDUKA DANCE THEATRE, FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY, SIWELA SONKE DANCE THEATRE, THE FANTASTIC FLYING FISH DANCE COMPANY, LEBOHANG DANCE THEATRE, FIRST PHYSICAL THEATRE COMPANY, and MOVING HANDS THEATRE COMPANY (UK). Musa’s choreographed works include Ozelweyo (2005), Umthombi (2004) , Imbokodo: The Tribe of She (2004), An untitled performance piece with Clive van Den Berge’s Family Tree (2003), Amashinga (2003), and Abakhwetha (2002). He is KZN Dancelink and Durban Dance Awards’ Best performer for the year 2004/5. His recent achievements as a choreographer include being selected twice to participate in the Choreographic Encounters of Africa and Indian Ocean: Madagascar (2004) and Paris (2006), and being nominated for the National Arts Festival’s Standard Bank Young Choreographers for 2005/6.
