>>PREVIEW
NDAA (AWAKENING OF SELF) & MOTSWA HOLE
Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe
Runs November 1 and 2
Dancers’ Studio West
Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe has been described as an intense and possessed dance soloist – he is a world-renowned artist who draws from both his cultural and spiritual roots.
Hailing from Soweto, South Africa, Mantsoe grew up seeing many of his family members work as sangomas, or healers, whose main function is to heal and protect their communities. Through them, Mantsoe learned the sangomas’ rituals and ceremonies, and how to access their mystical and ancestral world. He has learned how to enter a trance state and has integrated this into his performances.
Mantsoe has performed his solo works in countries as diverse as China and Germany, but he says the response to his integration of dance and ritual has been generally positive wherever he goes.
"I think that anyone can benefit from what I have tried to present," he says of his unique and contemporary approach to African dance, which mixes modern and traditional elements. "Of course, we do have a problem in terms of people who are narrow-minded, in that they’re too traditionalist and they don’t want to see what benefit they can get from the modern world." Or, conversely, people who are too modernized and can’t see the importance of maintaining traditional culture. "You know, you already have these kinds of people everywhere you go," he says. "As for me, I truly believe in what I do."
Mantsoe calls his work "Afro-fusion" – a mélange of African and Western dance forms, including traditional Zulu, Pedi and Xhosa dances, with contemporary dance and ballet, as well as Tai Chi and other martial arts movement. Calgary audiences will be able to take in two of Mantsoe’s works, NDAA (Awakening of Self) and Motswa Hole, in his upcoming visit to Dancers’ Studio West.
The basic translation of "ndaa" is "greetings." In Soweto, says Mantsoe, the act of greeting friends took a significant amount of time, and involved a certain degree of ritual.
Mantsoe says the work was inspired by the fact that people often say something they don’t really mean. "I am trying to ask (the question), ‘Do we mean what we say, really?’ I mean, if we come into someone’s house, or when we’re greeting someone in the street, do we really mean that greeting?"
Mantsoe also investigates the idea of the spirit world, which the living must negotiate with.
"It’s quite an intense piece, but yet at the same time there’s a lot of pleasure in doing it," he says. "It’s also about pushing me through some kind of a healing process."
The second work, Motswa Hole, deals with learning and the process of transformation. "It… talks about the things that we learn as human beings, from the early age when we’re born until when you pass on," he says. "As a human being you tend to learn things and some things you tend to get disappointed with, and then you leave them behind. "
The performance features a large, ceremonial bowl containing water, which Mantsoe says is of special significance to him. "Where I come from, we use water for purification… in our ceremonies (and) we use water to survive." |
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