I enjoy a final lunch at Lucky Bean with Bamuthi and Hakim Bellamy who has come at Marj’s invitation to learn about the scene here. He is a poet, writer, musician, media maven, youth advocate, and really cool cat. Over lunch he tells us about his adventures yesterday visiting Constitution Hill and Court, getting lost in Hillbrow, one of the toughest neighborhoods downtown, and visiting a super cool library, print shop and media space serving youth.

Hakim & Panaibra

Bamuthi and I relish this rare chance to hang out and talk shop. Now that he is a curator at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts we have even more topics to explore. We have worked together numerous times since we first met at a National Performance Network meeting a bunch of years ago. In April we completed an 18-month series of residencies at Bates that culminated with two performances of “red, black & GREEN: a blues”. This was one of the most challenging production we’ve ever pulled off and one of the best.  B & I have every intention of continuing our collaboration but exactly how that will take shape is yet to be determined.

As I prepare to depart Joburg I am thinking about what surfaced across all these hours of performance. One encouraging change from African dance festivals is the increase in women among the ranks. While they are still a definite minority (maybe 20%) many more women choreographers presented work this year.  Choosing to be a dancer still goes against the acceptable social roles for women on the continent as wives, mothers, and homemakers.  It takes guts to pursue a career in the arts. We saw some promising efforts by Mamela Nyamza, Desire Davids, Fatou Cisse, Gaby  Saranouffi, Julie Iarisoa and Gladys Tchuimo. Let’s hope they keep at it and set an example for more young women to enter the field.

At the Africa Consortium we have made a particular effort to identify and invite women artists for residencies and performances. Our current example is Voices of Strength, a two part program curated by Cathy Zimmerman at MAPP International that features Kettly Noel and Neli Xaba (who were at BDF in 2011), Nadia Beugre (BDF 2009), Maria Helena Pinto and Bouchra Ouizguen.   The program is currently touring around the US accompanied by contextual notes from our partner and dance scholar, Joan Frosch. We are thrilled that the show is getting a fabulous response.

Neli Xaba & Kettly Noel

Another noticeable feature of many performances was a curious lack of light.  Quite a few works began in the near dark and some seemed to stay there.  Some choose to use light very selectively like a beam to move through or in one discreet area of the stage. This was obviously a choice but one I wonder about. i did not have an chance to ask the artists about this.

I have written in previous entries about the visible lack of technical training. Dancers in many parts of Africa simply do not have access to classes or even a place to practice.  Many begin by mimicking dance videos. Vincent Mantsoe and Gregory Maqoma began by copying Michael Jackson videos and look where it got them! This is one of the issues that artists like Germaine, Faustin, Boyzie, Panaibra, Andreya Ouamba, Salia & Sedou and others are actively trying to address by developing training centers and workshops.  Festivals like this one give aspiring dancers something to work towards — a chance to create and perform. Slowly, slowly the field is developing and one hopes there will be more emphasis on choreographic training in the coming years.

So my time in Joburg has come to a close for now with new acquaintances and old friendships renewed. Little by little my understanding  of this beautiful, sophisticated, complex and contemporary African continent is deepening. This place that I have been drawn to all my life is becoming tangible. I feel very lucky.

It is my last full day and my pal Vincent, has called to invite me to lunch. I meet him at Sophiatown for a delicious meal of kingclip (fish), rice, squash, spinach and beer. I am delighted to have another visit with him and to continue catching up on our respective lives.  We make tentative plans for him to return to BDF to teach and perform in 2015.  Hopefully some of my US colleagues will want to present his new solos as well.

Vincent & me

After lunch the first performance is Ali Karembe’s “Les Sorciers”. This young Mailian dancer is a formidable physical presence. I noticed him immediately when he showed up on the scene several days ago. A protégé of Kettly Noel (who was at BDF in 2011) this is Ali’s first group piece and it shows promise. What strikes me is his body intelligence and organic way of building movement.  We haven’t seen much of this. The three performers are giving us full body dancing. Much of what we have seen is not very strong technique and not much use of the lower extremities. Ali’s choreography also shows some maturity. He understands transitions (except for one bad one) and puts together a sequence of sections with a wrap at the end that I find satisfying.  Some bits could definitely be edited out but all in all it’s pretty good.

Ali Karembe

Then we’re off to Soweto once again for more performances and a big gala party for the festival sponsor, Total, as we learn driving out. First up in the little blue theater is Fana Tshabalala in “Gates of Hell I”. He is a mesmerizing performer who reminds me a bit of Vincent in his intensity.  Dressed in what looks like stocking material and elastic bands that barely cover his private parts, he offers up a searing and mysterious dance that no one sleeps through.

Fana in “Gates of Hell”

Soweto Terrace

Fana was followed by two, long, uninteresting solos. Then came a quartet from Cameroon by Bertrand Marc Moda Yakana that opened with a beautiful and evocative scene — pools of light each illuminating one dancer with a piece of clothing hanging overhead.  These guys had a more developed movement vocabulary making use of the lower limbs. They employed good use of the stage and a movement thread of full body shaking that repeated through the work. Once again it went on too long.

After a pre-show cocktail hour out on the terrace as the 250 Total employees arrived we got to the main event, PJ Sabbagha’s “One Night Stand”. This was an interesting choice for the sponsor’s evening. I saw this piece in February at the more intimate Wits Theatre. While PJ had tidied it up a bit “One Night Stand” is still a wild, chaotic ride for twelve amazing dancers. This is the kind of full out, release based, upside down dancing we are quite familiar with in the states.  One of the two women is a sleek acrobat with phenomenal extension who gracefully flips around the stage to our astonishment. A small dancer with a Mohawk, Charlie, is a firecracker of a mover doing six pirouettes and flipping in and out of the floor at lightning speed. A dj spins the score in the corner and the dancers trash the stage with paper flowers and clothes that come off and on throughout the piece.  In one hilarious section a drag queen bemoans many unrequited loves, in another the boys try to woo the acrobat smothering her with flowers. Many scenes unfold and fold into one another in this highly entertaining work. I can’t help but wonder what the Total folks thought.

Helen & Annie at the gala

The party continued after the show with a live string quartet and plenty of drinks and finger food. As we were pretty tired we managed to convince, Richard, our driver to take us home. With 14 people stuffed into the transpor,t including a rather drunk Boris, we made our way back to Melville taking the long way so folks could see the “calabash” stadium in Soccer City built for the World Cup in 2010. It is the sight of a big rugby game tomorrow between the world’s two best teams, South Africa and New Zealand. They are expecting 90,000 people.   Would that dance attracted even a fraction of that crowd!

On a more positive note it has been wonderful to mingle with such a large group of African artists and European and US presenters. I have had time to visit with some of my US colleagues and get to know them better.  There is much lively conversation and exchange in between the performances.

Martin Wechsler, Kyle Abraham & Carla Peterson

Today we began at Dance Factory at 3pm and then moved on to Soweto. Of note was Moektsi Koena & Haja Saranouffi’s piece, “Just We”. Koena attended BDF in 1997 and I haven’t seen him since so it was a real pleasure to reconnect.  He moved to Madagascar nine years ago where he and Gaby Saranouffi run an annual arts festival that brings artists from across the globe. “Just We” incorporate a dj, a pile of clothes and wigs that were changed in and out of throughout the piece, a ceiling hung with many microphones that are batted abou,t and effective lighting to define scenic changes and sections. It was great to see Moektsi dance again after all these years. He is a vibrant spirit with a good sense of humor. The piece was funny, well put together and nicely danced.

Just We

We also saw a sparse, post-modern quartet by four recent graduates of P.A.R.T.S. who hail from Tunisia and Morocco. The structure was smart and efffective. The tone was distinctly different from much of the other work we are seeing.

I may be leaving something out here and there because they scrambled the schedule so much that the booklet is no longer accurate and I didn’t have the sense to write down the new order of what we saw.

Soweto Theatre

Bamuthi, Marya Wethers & Marj Neset in Soweto Theatre

Back in Soweto (a 30 minute drive without traffic) we saw a work by Boris Ganga Bouetoumousssa  that was interminably long and felt quite manipulative of the audience, as well as two others works that are scrambled in my brain!

Last night we did not have the stamina to make it back to Wits Art Museum for a work entitled “Penis Politics” by Thabiso Pule and Thami Manekehla. Those who attended said that for Johannesburg it was quite bold and daring.   Choreography for and by the penis–in full frontal view, nothing less! Certainly helped to shake things up a bit.

Speakers at Network Talk

Carla Peterson and Marj Neset at the discussion

Attending were artists of all ages as well as programmers from Europe. The conversation moved on to the importance, and many failed attempts, to establish an enduring dance network. Several efforts were referenced that have not survived. At issue were the problems of artists not being willing to work on behalf of the larger good of the whole arts community, not being able to agree on strategy, and not being able to muster the extra energy required to keep up the fight, among others. Everyone seemed to agree that the lack of funding was a major challenge to moving any initiative forward.  Impassioned pleas were made for the community to join forces to advocate for the performing arts sector noting that ONLY if people join together do they have the power to effect change. There was an obvious sense of frustration that the dance community was very fractured and a united front has not been established. Several individuals shared existing network models such as Arterial Network and IETM that might be taken advantage of.  European and US attendees chimed in that these problems are not unique to South Africa but that we have each faced the challenge of finding agreement in order to advance a cause. Many excellent comments were added to the discussion including Germain Acogny’s that “poverty is big business” and it is imperative to show the other side of Africa to the world — one of  beauty and richness, one that is intelligent, innovative and contemporary. To combat the  images of the media that only shows war, poverty and despair.

Hakim Bellamy takes notes

Today was a big day for our small Africa Consortium contingent as we convened a meeting over lunch with some of our artists partners (Boyzie Cekwana, Panaibra Gabriel, Faustin Linyekula, and his wife, Virginie) to visit, learn of everyone’s recent activities and discuss potential next steps for the consortium. Sadly we were missing several of our partners (Opiyo Okach, Neli Xaba, Gregory Maqoma, Cathy Zimmerman-MAPP International, Ken Foster-Yerba Buena, Vivian Philips-Seattle Theater, Shay Wafer-651 Arts, Joan Frosch-University of Florida-Gainesville, and Philip Bither-Walker Art Center). But Marc Bamuthi Joseph (now curator of performing arts at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts), and Mamela Nyamza joined us for the first time.

Africa Consortium gathering

Every time I have an opportunity to meet and listen to these amazing artists (and my esteemed colleagues) I learn more about their interests and point of view, their strategies for achieving their goals despite very challenging conditions, and their incredible perseverance and commitment to their home communities. Each are building infrastructure to support and grow contemporary dance and sustainable communities in Kisangani (Congo), Maputo (Mozambique), and Durban (South Africa). Many more efforts are underway across Africa.  The rub is that nearly all the support to realize these projects comes from Europe often with desired outcomes attached. Most commonly the Europeans seems to be interested in investing in the development of work for export.  Our artist colleagues noted their strong interest in seeing the direction of this flow reverse so that work is being made for African audiences and a system for touring it on the continent comes into being.

From our meeting we headed off to Wits Theatre to see Vincent Mantsoe perform his newest solo, “Skwatta” (meaning camps). No one inhabits the stage the way Vincent does nor embodies the story/character/aura/spirit of the work. He is unique among performers. We bear witness as he travels to another world and back again. His intent and focus are transmitted through every fiber of his being. His movement has a sharpness and clarity that is remarkable. As we watch time is suspended and we enter a rare world with him. The local audience seems delighted to have their hometown star on stage and showed their appreciation.

Then we shuttled back to Newtown to the bus factory for a site performance by Sello Pesa that took place on a main thoroughfare. Mind you it was 5pm rush hour. The audience lined up on one side of the street in front of an abandoned lot while a cast of proper ladies and gents sat in chairs across the way listening to a formal and vacuous speech on urban renewal being recited over and over again. Near the end of the piece a fancy black car pulled up to take the speaker away. Meanwhile Sello and another dancer proceeded to roll out into the street, run through traffic, drag 50 gallon oil barrels across the road,  and generally put us all on edge. It was hard to watch. A third dancer in a motorcycle helmet rolled his head up and down  along a wall that bordered the sidewalk. After awhile this actually lost its agency and we wandered off for the next show at Dance Factory.

Sello Pesa Performing in the street

Sello Pesa cast

Germaine Acogny & Helmut watching the show

It was another very long day of dance watching and we returned to Melville very late and starving. Fortunately we were able to persuade one 7th street restaurant kitchen to reopen and feed us all. So pasta at 12:30pm and straight to bed, ugh! 7th St is the one commercial street in our cool neighborhood. Its lined with bars, restaurants and shops and all of six blocks long. Its a real scene on the weekends with the bass pounding into the wee hours.

me, Marj, a French friend and Kyle

On a few of our days we were able to carve out time for lunch at our favorite restaurant, The Lucky Bean, which serves divine food and wine. Fortunately our mornings were sometimes free. Otherwise I would not have written a word.  As it is I am having trouble keeping up and remembering what we saw from day to day.

We have been moving back and forth between Newtown where the Market Theatre, Dance Factory and Dance Forum office are, and Soweto Theatre. Fortunately the festival has provided transport back and forth for all events, as well as arranging for Sophiatown to be our “green room” to network with everyone present which includes artists from across the continent and presenters mostly from Europe.

Marg Neset & Panaibra Gabriel

The October 2nd program gave us an opportunity to see Paniabra Gabriel’s work, “The Marrabenta Solos” which he developed, in part, at his BDF residency with composer, Jesse Manno, in 2010. What a thrill to see this work in its final form and with an extraordinary guitar player from Maputo providing a live score. This piece masterfully blends text (projected), movement, and live music to undertake a very sophisticated and beautifully crafted discourse about identity. Centered around the body Panaibra explores the question of what kind of body he inhabits –Portuguese, African, Mozambiquan, democratic, communist, black, small… The movement vocabulary, in particular, offered the visible traces of classical Indian dance (flat foot stamping, erect torso, detailed gestural extremities), the Romany/Gypsy tradition that became Flamenco, and African traditional and contemporary elements. Near the end he moved into the physical body of bones and muscles slamming body parts into the floor in a somewhat spastic manner. While I found the piece slightly longer than needed to drive home the powerful message, it was mesmerizing and very effective.

Soweto Theatre front view

We also saw works by Sifiso Sememe & Desire Davids (both from South Africa),  interspersed with short breaks for drinks, food and chatting in the lobby and on the lovely, large terrace.

Miriam Makeba Park

Each time I have a chance to be with these two exceptional choreographer/performers I learn so much. Not only was it great  just to catchup as friends on our lives and work, but their perspective on dance in Africa and Europe (where they do much of their work) is always insightful and helpful to our effort to find meaningful ways to engage across the Atlantic.

Vincent now live in central France with his family where he has built a home studio to develop work with his company. Fortunately he is receiving some support from the French to sustain his creative work.  Greg who is a real globetrotter these days, is fortunate to have a studio and office in a building shared with Dance Forum and next to Dance Factory and Moving Into Dance — a little dance hub in Newtown. Vincent is currently touring  a new solo program that was recently presented by our Africa Consortium partner, North Fourth Art Center in Albuquerque, NM. They are both major success stories coming out of the South African contemporary dance scene along with Boyzie Cekwana, Neli Xaba, Sello Pesa and others.

After a luxurious lunch it was time to head back into the theater for a marathon afternoon/evening of shows.

Faustin Linyekula

In quick succession we saw Faustin Linyekula‘s newest solo, “Cargo”, which I found profoundly moving and brilliantly crafted. “Cargo” tells, in intimate terms, of a personal journey back to Faustin’s village to discover/uncover the forbidden dances of his childhood. The ones that happened after dark, after he was sent to bed, the ones he was not allowed to participate in. Throughout the work he asks himself if he has really danced over the last ten years as a performer. He threads the story of the villages’ master drummer thru the narrative.  A revered musician who, with the coming of a new wave of missionaries after the war,  gave up the drum and turned into a christian preacher. Personally I felt the sequencing of text and dance, a narrative masterfully weaving the personal and political, the repetition of sections, and the use of simple technical tools made this piece extremely affecting.I didn’t want to watch anything else but just to sit with the feelings “Cargo” evoked.

But alas we are at a festival of marathon proportions. The next three pieces were interminably long, needed extreme editing, and frankly, were exhausting to sit through. The question that keeps arising, as piece after piece feels much too long for its own good, is what in fact are the core goals of Danse Afrique Danse? Is it to serve the African artists at all levels of maturity and give them a much needed performance platform – a very worthy goal. Is it to serve the presenters who have come from all over the globe to see and “buy” work – also  a much appreciated opportunity to see these artists in a technically produced format? I question the benefits of placing very accomplished and emerging artists side by side on a level playing field and offering no distinguishing context.  I wonder why so many works are being packed into the schedule since it clearly is a logistically nightmare from the venue/production standpoint and has allowed us viewers so little time to digest the work and formulate a response, never mind having time to eat a decent meal.

One thing is very clear–there is a tremendous need for more access to compositional tools, choreographic training,  dramaturgy/choreoturgy, and mentoring,  as well as dance technique training which we know is not available to many aspiring artists across the continent, though efforts are being made and things are improving little by little.

I assume what drives the choice to make over long works is the demand of the marketplace. It is likely that most artists assume no presenter will book a piece shorter than 30 minutes. And this is probably true. But when the piece really should be 10 minutes and goes on for thirty it is dead upon arrival!

The last piece of the night was  the site-specific work, “Shift” by  Mamela Nyamza (who was at BDF in 2011) and took place in the Wits Art Museum. Due to the location of the piece, in a corner window, it was not easy to view. But i managed a good set on the floor and thoroughly enjoyed this charismatic performer as she took us along on a funny romp about female transformation.

Way too late to find dinner and too exhausted we called it a night.

Upon arriving in Newtown at lunchtime I was immediately swept up with a gang headed to the Africa Museum for an exhibit on Black Music. Having been disappointed by the museum on my last visit I did not have high hopes, but in fact this is a spectacular, comprehensive and accurate survey of the very large subject of black music and its influence across the new world and back again.

Museum of Africa

In a highly interactive media format one could walk through six rooms watching videos and listening to music from across the continent and around the Americas. Defined by geography, individual artists and social/religious/political influences this is a truly fabulous exhibit for anyone, like me, who has been a lifelong student and fan of all black music. I sampled the lives of Michael Jackson and Fela, watched videos on west, east and central African music, and was carried away as Celia Cruz rocked a Havana concert crowd. Sadly this show will not travel to the US. But here is a link to more info: http://www.blackmusicworldwide.com/

Then a lovely serendipitous lunch with Panaibra Gabriel of Mozambique, who was a guest artist at BDF in 2010. We had a good catchup and discussed a potential collaboration between his “Independence Project” (working with multi-abled dancers) and AXIS Dance Company, that I hope we can help realize in the coming years.

Next we saw another marathon series of performances by Hafiz Dhaou & Aicha M’Barek (Tunisia), Jerome Brabant (La Reunion), Ahmed Khemis (Tunisia/Algeria) (on video due to technical problems), Yuhl Headman (South Africa) and finally a wonderful collaborative work in progress by Gregory Maqoma (South Africa)  and Florent Mahoukou (Congo).

These last five performance took place at the brand new and shiny Soweto Theatre complex which contains three differently scaled theater spaces plus and outdoor terrace designed for a range of activities. The glass front looks out over Soweto and last night the full moon was rising – a magical sight.

In between shows I was delighted to be able to catchup with my friend, Gregory Maqoma and hatch a plan for lunch. Dare I admit, the intermissions are sometime the most valuable and fun part, a chance to schmooze with friends and meet some of the many amazing artists who are part of the platform.

Vincent Mantsoe & Laura Faure

What a treat to once again see my dear friend and extraordinary artist, Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe, one of the leading lights of the South African dance scene who now lives in France. We have been very lucky to have Vincent grace our stage on many occasions as well as offer killer classes. He and Gregory Maqoma

began dancing together in the streets of Soweto and then studied formally at Moving Into Dance under the guidance of Syliva Glasser who has been an important mentor for many SA dance artists over many years.

On our drive out to Soweto I sat with Vincent (and Kyle Abraham) who shared stories of growing up in the ‘hood’, and of  spotting the Zulu warriors, from the school house roof, as they approached during the war.  The kids ran like hell so as to not be hacked to death. Lucky for Vincent, and all of us, that his only war wounds are from going through a glass window or under a metal fence! These artists have lived through many things us soft American will never experience.

While others went off to dance the night away at one of the many local bars in Melville I tucked in for a cozy sleep. A demain!

After a torturous 30 hours of travel I arrived back in what is becoming a known and loved place, Jozi (as Johannesburg is affectionately called by its inhabitants). Fortunately I arrived in the evening and could go directly to bed. Sadly I missed the opening night which featured new works by BDF alum, Lucky Kele, as well as Fatou Cisse, Via Katlehong Dance and Delavallet Bidiefono who I really wanted to see.

Martin Wechsler, Kyle Abraham, Carla Peterson

After some much needed sleep and a good breakfast I gathered with my US colleagues and we were off to a convening

Sylvia Glasser discusses her signature work, Transformations

called “The Ar(t)chive, Dancing the Archive,  the second day of a dialogue with artists and scholars about the importance of documentation and archiving for future generations. I was sad to have missed the first day of this convening which featured the two grand dames of contemporary African dance, Germaine Acogny and Sylvia Glasser. These two remarkable women, along with dance writer, Adrienne Sichel, have championed the development of contemporary dance on the continent, and in South Africa, in particular, serving in the trenches as they say for decades.

The dialogue quickly brought to light the challenging reality that not enough performances takes place, for lack of funding and venues, to allow audience or writers access to work on which to understand and comment on the “field”. Artists for their part cannot afford the time or space to develop their archive as the imperative must be to devote what scant resources they have to creating art.

A heated discussion ensued about the importance/necessity of archiving the work of  this burgeoning field of contemporary dance. Faustin Linyekula argued that preservation is not important —  all that matters is what happens in the moment that can lives on in the memories of those lucky enough to witness the performances or workshops.  He declared that it was presumptuous to archive assuming it might be of value to someone in the future. Others, including myself, argued it is for those future souls to determine the value and that they deserve the opportunity to access what has come before in order to better understand the context and history of the work and interpret the present.

Antoine Tempe’s exhibit

The afternoon bled into the evening with no less than four performances in quick succession –thus is festival land! But first we had time to wander among the outdoor exhibit of photos by Antoine Tempe while simultaneously  watching a site performance by Fana Tshabalala. Following this sunny respite we returned to the theater to see Radhoune El Meddeb’s (Tunisia) long, dark, slow moving quintet of three couples attempting to engage, engaging and disentegrating. My favorite part was one dancer creating the sound score for another’s solo by walking on and scuffing sand spread on the floor.

Photo by Antoine Tempe

Next up a long, duet by Fanny Roselyne Mabondzo Ngamba with lots of  plastic bags that could have used some serious editing and shaping.

Then the marvelous “Inkomati (Dis)cord” by Boyzie Cekwana and Panaibra Gabriel, a quartet inspired by the non-aggression pact between Mozambique and South Africa. These two mature artists spent four years collaborating in fits and starts, two weeks here, two weeks there with long gaps in-between, to finally premiere this boisterous, humorous and engaging work about a serious political subject.

The final performance I managed to sit through with heavy eyelids was “Sueur Des Ombres” by Andreya Ouamba in which three warring couples whose duets were defined by bamboo bars that were constantly re-arranged to change the stage space. Exhausted we retired for much needed rest.

On my last full day in Joburg Neli offers to take us out of the city today to the Cradle of Humankind, otherwise known as Maropeng.  She, Mamela, Philip Bither , Edward (Neli’s partner) and one of their friends (whose name I didn’t quite master) head north into the Mahliesburg hills, a beautiful area one hour north of Joburg. I made this trip in 2010 but its’ totally worth another visit. Maropeng is a great museum that traces the development of planet earth and humankind. The museum is designed to meld into the landscape. Much of it is covered by earth like a berm house. There is a decidedly environmental slant to the presentations along with a message of equality. Ironic for it to be in South Africa with its still present Apartheid mentality.  It’s a wonderful place for young people to learn about evolution and consider the future of the planet.

My favorite aspect of the property on which the museum sits is the long views across the open rolling hills. Today there is haze that creates layers of horizons. It’s very peaceful after the bustle of Joburg. Maropeng is a large preserve where some of the oldest human and animal remains have been discovered. Skulls like Ms. Ples were unearthed here.  There appear to be trails throughout the property and today there are over 100 mountain bikers here for the third leg of a 70k a day bike event.

After our tour of the museum and a nice sit in the sun we head off in search of a decent lunch. Its past the noon hour so possibilities are sketchy. After a bit too much discussion we finally end up at the Maropeng Hotel, a very swanky place near the museum with an infinity pool on the terrace and even more beautiful views. By now I am beyond hungry but the service is horribly slow and the food mediocre. Oh well.

At the table we are two arts curators, a surgeon, a corporate marketer/arts board person with a deep grounding in the visual arts scene, and two choreographers. It makes for interesting conversation and a glimpse into a particular slice of life in Joburg. We jump from politics to art to food to music and more.

By the time we get back to Melville I am exhausted and opt to miss the final performance of Mark Hawkins and go to bed early in preparation for my 24 hours of travel tomorrow.

As I prepare to depart I keep thinking about what I am taking away from this visit. Everyone we ask (our drivers, waiters, artists, funders, innkeeper) say that things are getting better in South Africa — the government is taking better care of the people and crime is down, but gas prices keep going up and jobs are too scarce. in Soweto there has been some successful development like a new theater complex and more restaurants and B & Bs. This is where the next Danse Afrique Danse platform will be taking place in November. Still the government bureaucracy is maddeningly inefficient, corruption is rampant and many are still suffering. This is still a very young democracy with a legacy of injustice under Apartheid. It is shocking to hear informed, intelligent South Africans say that they feel Mandela helped the whites more than the blacks in the end.  Traveling across the city one sees the disparities of great wealth and poverty.  Depending on which neighborhood you visit it might resemble the Hollywood hills or some other wealthy US suburb. On the other end of the spectrum are the dismally poor shantytowns of the townships.

What has also come across through people’s personal stories and several of the works on Dance Umbrella is the pervasive threat of sexual violence against women, children, gays and lesbians. The children who are raped and impregnated by their teachers, the raping of children as young as two as a way to avoid HIV/Aids, the grandmother who was raped and murdered, the corrective rape of lesbians (could there be a more absurd notion), the casual one night stand and resulting contraction of HIV/Aids. The threats are so pervasive to be more the norm than not and I can’t help but sense that there is a degree of acceptance that this is just life, along with a sense of horror. Rarely do these cases get prosecuted and so it goes on and on.

Another ugly truth that emerges through my conversations is the deeply embedded racism among some whites. As in the Y.S. there are people who seriously consider themselves neutral, open-minded and supportive of blacks. Yet they convey a deep rooted sense of superiority and desire to maintain physical distance. As though the black race was in some way polluted, dirty and less. Many whites grow up with black nannies who they adore to their death but god forbid they get too close to any other member of the race. Geez Louise in the 21^st century can we move on to a more enlightened and humane way of being in the world together. Our blood is red, our tears are salty and we are all going to die someday. Let’s be the best people we can for the short time we are here.

Today we had our second consortium meeting — a chance to hear from everyone around the table (and from several artist who sent news). Among us there is an amazing array of exciting thinking and work happening. Yerba Buena has just hired Marc Bamuthi Joseph as their new performing arts curator and we are all eager to see how he reinvents their programs.

Ken Foster fresh off the plane

651 Arts in hoping to move into their own space and establish more of an identity in their Brooklyn neighborhood.

Shay Wafer

Seattle Theatre Group is bringing a kickass program next season including MAPP’s Voices of Strength, Amadou & Mariam, Fela, Dance Theater of Harlem, and more. The Walker staff is rethinking their focus to reflect a more global perspective.

Vivian Philips

VSA Arts of New Mexico is conceptualizing a new mini series called Journeys featuring small works by international artists.

Cathy and Marj

Likewise the artists are deeply engaged in developing new work and dreaming big. Greg is fine-tuning Exit/Exist and has several other projects in the hopper. His big dream is to create a dance center is Soweto.

Gregory Maqoma and Phlip Bither

Boyzie is working on the final part of his trilogy and trying to live a saner life. Neli is exploring how to extend “Uncles & Angels” into a video installation and photographs for galleries. They are all and strategizing ways to change the arts culture in southern Africa to be more responsive to artists.

Boyzie Cekwana and Neli Xaba

Together, through honest dialogue, we renew our commitment to our shared goals and discover what the next steps might be.  Thanks to our new funding from the Robert Sterling Clark Foundation we will move forward introducing US artists into the mix in a more intentional way. We plan to gather again during the Danse Afrique Danse platform hosted by Cultures France in Joburg next November. We also hope to invite one of our African artist affiliates to the next National Performance Network meeting to introduce them to this important consortium of US artists and presenters.

Moving on… After a much needed afternoon rest we head off to see PJ Sabbagha and The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative’s “One Night Stand”at the Wits Theater. The program notes describes this as “a provocative exploration of the many ways we are infected on a daily basis by the many viruses that invade our lives and take over our bodies.” PJ has been active in the fight against HIV/Aids.  In visiting with him earlier this week he admitted the piece was in an early stage of development and was quite chaotic and messy (his words). After seeing the piece I would have to agree. The dancers were terrifically athletic and daring but the piece seemed to have very little structure or, frankly, much identifiable connection to the theme articulated in the program. The music, run from the sidelines on a laptop, was repetitive, pounding electronica that did not enhance the action from my perspective.

I had loved PJ’s work during the 2010 Dance Umbrella and so wanted my colleagues to be wowed by his new show. Fortunately they are all sophisticated curators and could see the intelligence and intent behind the work.

Next Philip and I head off to Moyo Restaurant at Zoo Park to hear some local music. Philip seeks out music in every city he visits and had been trying hard to find the best venues here in Joburg. His sources told him a bunch of good musicians were gathering at Moyo tonight to jam. When we arrived we discovered one singer with his acoustic guitar just finishing his last set. The dinner crowd seemed little interested in his music, lovely as it was. Since we were there and our driver had departed we settled in for dinner and a chance to catch up one on one. The opportunity to really talk to one another is rare in our field. Most often when we are together it is at a conference where everyone is racing around seeing work or in a big group meeting.  I am always delighted when a chance comes to spend more quality time and hash over issues of common concern. We had another such opportunity in November 2010 when Philip, Marj and I were in the Masa Mara of Kenya.