KVS en Ultima Vez/Thomas Steyaert

 

Workshops and a new production in Kinshasa

 

When the KVS and Ultima Vez invited me to lead a danceworkshop in Kinshasa, I wondered what role I could play as an artist within that context. Do the people of a country torn apart by civil war and misgovernment, where life is often purely a matter of survival, really need a workshop in contemporary dance? It was clear that to me the culture of the RDC was remote and unfamiliar. Once I was there I soon banished from my mind the question I had recently been asking myself. The energy, the hunger and the enthusiasm I encountered in this workshop went far beyond the experience of any other workshop I had ever previously given.  Another question I asked myself was whether I would ‘use’ their culture as a source of inspiration for my own work and whether our colonial history would be part of this. In the end, as performing artists together, we dealt with this sticky subject in a free and uncomplicated manner and to me there was no relevance in letting this influence our work in a concrete and direct way. Each of the dancers inspired me in their own personal way, which meant that artistically the working process was essentially little different from anywhere else, though the influence of traditional African dance and culture was quite obvious. After a successful presentation in front of an enthusiastic audience it was quite clear that the contemporary dance scene was alive and kicking and we all agreed that there should be a follow-up.     

In that same year I went back and worked with a group of fourteen dancers for three weeks. There was plenty of sweat, cursing and laughter, but above all dance. I was amazed by the dancers’ energy and talent. Movement and dance are part of African culture, of course, but many of them handled this new movement idiom with extraordinary cleverness.

Wim Vandekeybus’ piece Spiegel was performed in Kinshasa during the same period. After the show the audience ran cheering into the street. Some of them imitated ‘Ultima Vez movements’ they had memorised and without thinking twice threw themselves into the arms or against the bodies of people around them. A real treat!

When I, thogether with Raul Maia returned for two months in 2008, we worked not only in Kinshasa but also in Kisangani, Goma and Kigali (in Rwanda). With a group of eight dancers we went from town to town to work with local dancers in the mornings. The exciting thing about this trip was that the cultural exchange was not only between Flanders and the DRC, but also, and perhaps more importantly, between the Congolese perfomers. This journey resulted in artistic projects involving dancers and choreographers from the various cities, which is by no means an easy matter in the Congo.

In 2009 I went back once again with an eye to a more production-oriented project, as a logical sequel to the previous workshops. For six weeks we worked on a piece called Mist.

 

Mist: the performance - fragment of the process (worldpremiere KVS, Brussels February 2010)

 

As in the workshops, an important element in the creation of Mist was that from the very beginning there was an open dialogue between the dancers, musicians and me. Starting from a concrete concept - the in-between world: a world between those of the living and the dead -  we sat down and brainstormed on what this might signify to each of the participants. Were there any folktales on this subject? What does this world look like? What emotions might this subject arouse? Do the human senses operate in this sort of world? How does comminication take place? Could it stand as a methophor for the superficial desire society of today or maybe the information society in which we often get lost, dwelling around in a fog of images? Maybe the violance of capitalism and the relation between North and South? 

 

These are just few of the many questions we asked ourselves, and some of them served directly as starting points for the final creation.

 

Mist is ultimately a very human but dark and surreal piece in which four individuals wander around disoriented, in search of themselves and a little beauty.

The dance is accompanied live by two musicians. 

 

 

Choregraphy: Thomas Steyaert

 

Creation and Interpretation: Didier Ediho, David Kazembe, Ambassa Mimani and Jolie Ngemi

 

Musique: Rodriguez Vangama and Brecht Ameel   

 

Light Design: Bas Devos

 

Costumes: Thomas Steyaert

 

Scenography: Thomas Steyaert

 

Production: KVS (Royal Flemish Theater) and Ultima Vez