NOVEMBER 2017 Volume 3 Inside this issue: BASA AWARDS 1 WITH NOTHING BUT SILENCE THEY TURNED THEIR BO- DIES TO FACE THE NOISE CHOREOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE MAMELA NYAMZA PHUMA-LANGA CWP OUPA SIBEKO 6 FATC DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN RE- VIEW FLY ANGELS, FLY! 8 2 4 7 A WEEK OF AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS FOR THE FORGOTTEN ANGLE THEATRE COLLABORATIVE The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (FATC) and Gooderson Kloppenheim Country Estate Hotel scooped the Cultural Tourism Award at the 20 th Annual BASA Awards on Sunday 17 th September for their 2016 My Body My Space Public Arts Festival partnership. In the same week FATC was selected as the Mpumalanga nomination for the National Lotteries Commission Beneficiary Awards which took place on the 21 st September. BASA s Cultural Tourism Award, supported by Nedbank, is awarded to business support of art and culture projects which contribute towards the growth of communities and jobs, and which support the opportunities provided by local tourism. PJ Sabbagha, Artistic and Managing Director of FATC and the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre and Artistic Director of the My Body My Space Public Arts Festival had this to say about winning the BASA award: A massive thanks to BASA for acknowledging and awarding our Partnership with Gooderson Kloppenheim Country Estate Hotel in the Cultural Tourism Category. Being recognized in this way is significant in that it affirms our partnerships with local businesses. It celebrates our joint contribution to local economic development and to stimulating local tourism through My Body My Space. Winning the award provides recognition of the tremendous potential that arts events such as the My Body My Space Public Arts Festival have, to mobilize and stimulate the local tourism sector. It also acknowledges the work that FATC and its festival partners do to position rural Emakhazeni as a destination that provides quality arts experiences in an area rich in cultural and natural heritage. PJ Sabbagha, Athena Mazarakis and Margie Muller at the 2017 BASA Awards Photo: Mariola Biela Sabbagha states, as a flagship project of FATC and the Ebhudlweni Arts Center, that has profound social and artistic impacts and results, the celebrating of partnerships that make My Body My Space happen, will, we believe, assist in building the national and international profile and awareness around the festival and will contribute to its long-term sustainability. Through this award, BASA has significantly affirmed our belief that The My Body My Space Public Arts Festival is a unique one-of-a-kind Arts and Culture product within the South African arts landscape. LAST QUARTER PRO- GRAMMES 9 Margie Muller, General Manager of Gooderson Kloppenheim Country Estate Hotel expressed her excitement at receiving the Cultural Tourism Award: Winning the BASA award was such a great honour for Gooderson Kloppenheim Country Estate Hotel. Knowing that we have contributed towards our community and discovering the fantastic talent that we have in our local communities has been very rewarding. We are looking forward to being part of this great journey with My Body My Space for many years to come.
Page 2 WITH NOTHING BUT SILENCE THEY TURNED THEIR BODIES TO FACE THE NOISE The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative performed PJ Sabbagha and Athena Mazarakis With Nothing but silence they turned their bodies to face the noise at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown from the 7th 9th July, and at the Wits 969 Festival in Johannesburg on the 15th July. A dance for the tree gods: Robyn Sassen Republished from My View: The Arts at Large (15 July 2017) with kind permission of Robyn Sassen With nothing but silence they turned their bodies to face the noise Performed at the Wits 969 Festival in 2017 Photo: Mariola Biela IN 2005, PJ Sabbagha put his choreographic name behind a most exceptional project. Still Here was earth shattering in its delicate sense of raw beauty and was important for that reason. But as an advocacy piece engaging with HIV/Aids, it was important for other reasons too. Over the years, Sabbagha and his company the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative have unrelentingly challenged boundaries in terms of issues and aesthetics, possibilities and the substance of dance. This work, With Nothing But Silence They Turned Their Bodies To Face the Noise is no different: structured with the complexity of videoed work, shadow and articulation through costume and context, weeping and filmed trees, it confronts the sticky and grotesque mess that our planet is in. It is an extraordinary piece of performance, for our time. Melding together dance with hand drawn dance costumes, Greek extrapolations with a soundscape that touches water and wind, landscapes and trees, it takes place in a set that is transfixing in its detail, astonishing in the sum of its parts, and the sense of authority commanded by Mazarakis. It is here that a hat of flowers takes on virtual sinister attributes, that bodies move like mercury, curving against one another, casti n g t h e l i g h t i n a w a y t h a t g i v e s voice to shadows that dominate and liaise with the visual clout of the piece. With nothing but silence they turned their bodies to face the noise Performed at the Wits 969 Festival in 2017 Photo: Mariola Biela
Page 3 Like Still Here, it s a complex, almost abstract work with forays in a range of directions, and during its 60 minute duration, you get the urge to shout Stop! I didn t see exactly what that was! Do it again! Many things happen at once in this work which takes you from the magnificent bluegum trees of Mpumalanga to the here and now on stage. You see dancers emerging from piles of leaves and sheets of crumpled paper, engaging the world with its brokenness. The sound track is bumpy with pimples in the technology and the give and take of movement coheres uncomfortably with that of the sound, forcing the dancers over terrain which is as tough and unsettled as the world they re depicting. The dance work is twisty and inchoate and offers a unique language of movement, which distinguishes it and grabs you by the eye, again and again. With nothing but silence they turned their bodies to face the noise Performed at the Wits 969 Festival in 2017 Photo: Mariola Biela And all too soon, suddenly it is over, leaving you with a sense of loss: the work s structure is repetitive and patterned, rather than chronological. You re sucked into its dynamics and find yourself mesmerised by bodies contorting themselves into torn and emotive positions, by dancers who shout, shouters who dancer, and a collaborative mix which leaves your heart uneasy and your mind racing. More s the pity that the work only had a single performance in this year s Wits 969 Festival. With nothing but silence they turned their bodies to face the noise Performed at the Wits 969 Festival in 2017 Photo: Mariola Biela With nothing but silence they turned their bodies to face the noise Performed at the Wits 969 Festival in 2017 Photo: Mariola Biela
Page 4 CHOREOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE MAMELA NYAMZA PHUMA-LANGA I think as a woman there is always a fight to actually do something. There are always closed doors, so you always try, by all means, to push those doors because if you don t push them, then your voice will not be heard. Mamela Nyamza is an award-winning, South African, female artist doing exactly that. Through her provocative works, she challenges traditional standards and knocks down doors and boundaries. Mamela Nyamza Photo: Christo Doherty Nyamza was in residence at the Ebhudlweni Arts in August 2017, collaborating with the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative to create her brand new work, PHUMA-LANGA. I wanted to go into a dance piece, my interpretation of a dance piece, but it s hard for me to do that because I m not a fan of dance I work with groups, mainly with institutions out of the country. At home I ve worked with groups very minimally, a few companies. Right now, this year and at my age I am ready to create on others. I have been ready but I ve never had the opportunity to create on others. PHUMA-LANGA is an African phrase which means RISE THE SUN/SUN-RISE and deliberately explores the revival of the language, art and culture of the Ndebele people. Nyamza s earlier works examine women and the experience of being a woman in South Africa. Her latest works can be classified as highly political. In these works, she interrogates the contemporary social climate she lives in, such as her latest solo work, De-Apart Hate to be performed at the 2017 Afrovibes Festival in The Netherlands. Speaking about PHUMA-LANGA Nyamza states: I didn t want to explore any women themes in this work, deliberately. I refused to go to it, now. I m done with it and I know people are doing it and I ve done it as well. When we were doing that protest work, in Cape Town, it was four women. So coming here I thought, I don t want to talk about women s issues. I wanted to go into a dance piece, my interpretation of a dance piece, but it s hard for me to do that because I m not a fan of dance, like dancing for the entire piece. I m trying to use culture to influence me as an entry but I didn t want to speak about women and men, I wanted to speak about the Ndebele culture and the disappearing of culture. Nyamaza s PHUMA-LANGA is a sharp and poignant observation of South Africa s young democracy that is stuck at a social cross-roads. The work views two distinct South African cultures through the landscape of division and reconciliation. I told myself that when I come here I wanted to create something that was unexpected from me. Most of my work is political. This work is political in a way because of the nature of the work and the use of the De la Rey song. The political issue is about race but it s very subtle. Elements like the gun and the costumes suggest something the props for me are the concept. PHUMA-LANGA performed at the Drama for Life Creative Research Hub s Emakhaya Theatre Photo: Christo Doherty Although an exquisite technically trained dancer, Nyamza is known for abolishing the confines of dance and the way in which dance is created. She recalls her experiences as a young dancer and exclaims those days it was not as avantgarde as it is today. It was very structured, where you learn the style and routine the whole day. Today the creation is different, you talk, think, do and you create the work that s my way of doing things.
Page 5 Through this work Nyamza wishes to encourage the restoration of the gems left from some of South Africa s cultures. As a South African, our culture is disappearing, to be replaced by colourful westernisation. The language is disappearing too. We speak English more than we speak our own African languages and most Africans speak English, so there s something that is disappearing. We are blinded by the colonial system - that we don t even see that we are blind, which is why in the piece I make use of this blindness. PHUMA-LANGA enjoyed a run in Emakhazeni from the 6th-8th September at various community centres as well as in Johannesburg from the 14th- 16th September at the Drama for Life Creative Research Hub s Emakhaya Theatre, 19th Floor, University Corner, Braamfontein. PHUMA-LANGA performed at the Drama for Life Creative Research Hub s Emakhaya Theatre Photo: Christo Doherty Here s what the critics had to say about the work: This is an astonishingly fine work which brings together disparate values, touching on everything from the province s name, to the traditional African musical instruments played in the region, with a guttural and sophisticated sense of authority. It looks playful and easy, but isn t. It touches the fabric of the culture in Mpumalanga with an urgent intimacy that will not allow your focus to abate or disperse. And in the 19-floor-descent of the building s elevator, as you try and puzzle out that all that you saw in this piece, so do you realise it reaches deep into that stuff of culture that makes you, you. (Robyn Sassen, 14th September 2017, My View) Nyamza s work is not pretty. It disrupts any form of false comfort that lies in the body, for both the actor and the spectator. It forces us to be honest with ourselves. While she claims that Phuma-Langa is a recall for a renewed reconciliation amongst all South Africans, the work refuses to revive harmony at the expense of one s culture. Rather, it is a cry for tolerance and respect for each other s cultures. (Zanele Madiba, 16th September 2017, Madiba Says) Photo: Christo Doherty
Page 6 ARTIST IN COMMUNITY PROJECT OUPA SIBEKO The Artist in Community Project is a project facilitated by the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative and Wits Drama for life. The project, implemented by Oupa Sibeko, was conducted with the Community Workers Programme (CWP) across the Emakhazeni municipality from May 2017 to September 2017. Dullstroom Community Workers in Dullstroom Photo : Oupa Sibeko FM: Briefly describe the project OS: There are three different groups, Machadodorp, Dullstroom and Belfast. The groups include mainly women ranging from 24 to 67. On a weekly basis the project works with 84-90 Community Workers, two of which are males, in Dullstroom. We had stages, in the beginning they saw it as gym (cardio) and this was the first type of intense exercise they had every week. From there we had conversations about what affects us, issues that affect the community. It was about creating a dialogue and a space where everyone is heard and can express themselves. We then had to devise how we can include what affects us and the exercises in a creative way, celebrating our circumstances and having fun together. We then played music, everyday social music and created sequences and sketches, incorporating performances. I m very aware of the words that I use in describing what we did because I had the cultural tools, because I studied these things, but I had to reserve my judgement and learn from them, rather than me imposing. FM: What does Artist in Community mean to you? OS: Artist in Community, the first intention or thought that kept resounding in my head is that it s more about social inclusion and equity and also about arts development. As artists we tend to work in isolation about themes that affect communities and yet we don t work with communities. The CWP, community workers are the people that take care of the community, they are a great point because they already work within the community, they know the social ills and what affects the community. FM: What were some of the challenges you experienced? OS: One of the clashes was that I m not from here. How do I reserve my cultural knowledge not being from here? I had to be very sensitive. The other challenges we had were cultural differences and age, the group in Dullstroom, the oldest person is 67. There s already a cultural clash about age and not wanting to talk to someone younger or listen to someone younger than them. We had to slowly ease into the process to make it inclusive. They ve had dreams and some of those dreams have been shattered and here I am, a 25-year old approaching them with an Artist In Community project, how do I become sensitive to their frustrations, challenges and goals. That was a challenge. We had to fight through that and make it clear that in a creative space there is no hierarchy, yet there is respect. It was also a challenge for me to learn how to hold the space, dealing with adults, not children. But in the last four weeks they have opened up, started talking to me and even come to me with suggestions. FM: How has this project inspired you? OS: The Artist in Community Project gave the group in Belfast a voice to express themselves and encouraged them to seek an ear to be heard. So there are many ways, but in terms of discipline: how I conduct myself? And physically, working with older people. They are so hungry to just explore and take chances, they are brave and those are some of the things I ll take with me from this project. FM: What insights have you gained as an artists through this project? OS: We are all equal. Art is about social inclusion, and if we don t do that then we should stop doing it. As much as we try to title ourselves as artists, we are actually community participants.
Page 7 FATC AND THE EBHUDLWENI ART CENTRE S DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME IN REVIEW In its 22nd year the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative continues its commitment to utilizing the arts, particularly dance-based activities, as a vehicle for personal and social transformation. This principle lies at the heart of all the of the Development programmes that FATC rolls out from the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre. THE CURRENT DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME AT A GLANCE Local Outreach Programme This is an inclusive integrated programme that provides high quality dance and arts education to local, rurally-based community artists, children, youth and persons with disabilities in the Emakhazeni Local Municipality (ELM). Weekly workshops and dance classes are offered in all four towns of ELM. These include: Belfast/Siyathuthuka, Machadodorp/Emthonjeni, Dullstroom/Sakhelwe and Waterval-Boven/Emgwenya. Through FATC s commitment to Mainstreaming Disability it not only offers fully integrated and inclusive training in ALL classes, but also engages its Disability Partner Network in the area directly. It offers regular classes at the Department of Social Development s Stimulation Centres in Belfast (Vera Stimulation Centre) and Waterval-Boven (Waterval-Boven Stimulation Centre). These Stimulation Centres provide care for children and adults with a range of mental disabilities. It also offers classes at Epilepsy SA in Dullstroom (Limpopo/Mpumalanga Head Office), which provides full-time care for adults with a range of physical and mental disabilities. Reach & Impact = 519 children, youths and persons with disabilities in 4 EMAKHAZENI TOWNS weekly Youth in Arts Leadership Programme (YALP) The YALP Programme is dedicated to developing young artists in leadership positions with a focus on empowering youth in under-resourced rural areas. The programme focuses on Leadership in the creative and cultural industries and provides tertiarylevel training in the area of arts entrepreneurship, the business of the arts, operational compliance and governance in arts organisations. Reach & Impact = 23 Youth Arts Leaders over 3 years covering 6 PROVINCES Summer and Winter Schools The Summer and Winter Schools are intensive 10-day programmes, held at the Ebhudlweni Art Centre, that offer workshops and classes to young aspiring and emerging dance artists. Reach and Impact = Connecting young dance artists to leading dance educators. Internship Programme 2017 Winter School Participants with Alfred Hinkel Photo: David April FATC has just completed its Internship Programme for four female dance professionals. This is an incubator programme that offers a structured and supervised programme to develop their skills across the key areas of Technical Training, Administrative Training, Performance, Choreography and Dance Education. The candidates for the Internship are skilled, talented professionals who have completed some form of prior training. By the end of their Internship, participants are able to function proficiently within all areas of the contemporary dance industry. Reach and Impact = 4 empowered female dance professionals + a skilled and employable generation of dance-related artists. Extended Rural Outreach Programme (ERO) 2017 Youth Arts Leaders at the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre Photo: Athena Mazarakis The ERO programme provides high quality dance training and life-skills training to rurally based dance groups and organisations in three provinces: the Free State, Limpopo and Mpumalanga. FATC facilitators spend intensive five to ten-day periods with the groups within their home bases. The organisations are also offered administrative and management mentorship by the FATC team. Reach and Impact = 37 participants in 3 PROVINCES Community-Builders Training Programme Five local Emakhazeni-based trainees have just completed FATC s Community-Builders Training Programme, the first of its kind to be rolled out at the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre. The programme trains candidates in the area of community development through arts practice, with a specific focus on the rural context. The programme provides trainees with high level skills in dance practice and facilitation, capacitating them to design and implement dance / arts programmes within rural communities. The training within this programme is a balanced mix of a formal instructional approach to dance performance, dance education, dance-making and dance in the societal context as well as the application of these learnings through on-the-job training and mentorship within FATC s Emakhazeni-based outreach communities. Reach and Impact = 5 Local Mpumalanga Candidates + Requisite skill-set to design and implement dance programmes in rural communities + Solid foundational dance training to prepare them for the professional industry.
Page 8 Artist in Residence Programme Artists are presented with a programme of Master Classes and workshops offered by experts in the fields of dance practice and dance education to stimulate their creative research and inspire innovative strategies for the creation of artistic products. Reach and impact = 34 Young Artists over 3 years: space, mentorship and support to create original new dance products presented on national and international platforms Artist in Community Programme FATC has recently piloted its Artist in Community Programme. The AIC programme is designed to bring together artists with particular communities. The programme provides the artist with the opportunity to develop their artistic practice in collaboration with particular communities. It simultaneously provides communities with the opportunity to develop art skills through the participation in an arts process. Oupa Sibeko served as the first Artist in Community. Reach and Impact = 3 Communities + 84 Participants + Skills to develop personal agency Saturday School Programme The Saturday School for Children and Youth is a programme dedicated to the provision of specialized dance training to children and youth in the Emakhazeni Municipality. Reach and Impact = 40 local Emakhazeni participants + foundational dance skills enabling them to pursue dance and performance as a possible career path. FLY ANGELS, FLY! A GOODBYE NOTE FATC s current 1-year National Lottery Commission Funding comes to an end soon. This means we bid a warm farewell to the company members, Interns and Trainees whose contracts were made possible through this enabling grant. The programming of FATC and the Ebhudlweni Art Centre have been greatly enriched by their hard work. To the arts angels that have flown the FATC flag high for the past 12 months we say: Thank you for your integrity, your fiery determination, your resilience and your love. The way in which you infused your work with care and passion undoubtedly deepened the impact of FATC s footprint. Take the lessons learned on this rural adventure with you as you carve and shape your future careers. We ll be following your paths closely with great interest and excitement. You are FATC-family - we will always be connected. Fly angels, Fly!
Since its inception in 1995 The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (FATC) has collaborated with performers, choreographers, educators and theatre practitioners to present top quality dance, theatre and training programs at a national and international level. Based at the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre in Mpumalanga, which it launched in 2015, FATC is committed to advancing the role of contemporary South African art, arts organisations and artists as dynamic agents of personal and social transformation. Last Quarter Programmes! The Forgotten Angle Theatre 082 560 9687 Pj@forgottenangle.co.za Website : www.forgottenangle.co.za Instagram: @Fa_theatrecollaborative Facebook: @TheForgottenAngle Twitter: @FATC_SA Artist in Residence Programme In 2017, funded by Rand Merchant Bank and The Department of Arts and Culture, FATC offered 9 fully-supported residency opportunities to South African Dance / Physical Theatre Practitioners at the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre. From the 2nd-28th October, we welcomed the year s second group of artists in residence: Themba Mbuli (Western Cape), Thalia Laric (Western Cape), Joni Barnard (Gauteng), Kopano Maroga (Western Cape) and Alfred Motlhapi (Gauteng). Facilitators, who offered master classes and workshop to residence participants included PJ Sabbagha, Athena Mazarakis, Lucia Walker, Desire Davids and David April. Extended Rural Outreach Also in October, as part of our Extended Rural Outreach Programme, funded by The National Lotteries Commission (NLC), FATC facilitators provided a second programme of intensive classes and workshops to the various community groups we visited earlier this year across the Free State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. Groups include Catch Fire Waya Waya in Thabong, Free State and Kgatelopele youth group, Moletjie Moshate, Limpopo. Youth in Arts Leadership Programme From the 4th 6th November we ran our third and final YALP module for the year, funded by Rand Merchant Bank (RMB). This year-long programme is made up of three modules and consistent mentorship for youth arts leaders from across rural South Africa. CREDITS Written and Compiled by: Francesca Matthys and Athena Mazarakis Editor: Athena Mazarakis Summer School The FATC Summer School, funded by the National Lotteries Commission (NLC), commences on the 22nd November and runs until the 26th November. The Summer School brings together leading figures in the South African dance industry to provide workshops on dance-making and choreography. The Summer School includes participants who are selected from FATC s Extended Rural Outreach Programme Follow our social media pages to see what else we re up to!