Breathwords, oxygen for the soul
Cape Ballet Africa at Artscape for one more night!
Cape Ballet Africa’s show, Breathwords, on for just three nights at Artscape, is the most delightful breather from life in this rather suffocating time. Good news for Jozi is that the show is on at Teatro Montecasino in June (dates to be confirmed soon).
Opening on a high note with the world premiere of Whispers From Within by Dutch choreographer Wubkje Kuindersma, the excellent Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra and the technically brilliant Cape Ballet Africa dancers quickly pull us in. We are mesmerised by the perfect symmetry between the glorious sounds of Summer and Spring from Vivaldi’s Four Seasons (compellingly recomposed by Max Richter) and the superbly choreographed piece about intuition and connection.
A glorious sweet wind on a hot summer’s day, Whispers From Within has the dancers, all fluid and breezy, as perfect mirrors to each other and the music. Technical excellence underpins the magic, with the dancers somehow expressing freedom and precision, their limbs like perfectly synchronised ribbons blowing in the breeze.
The intensity is punctuated by so many playful moments when the dancers sashay and strut, making us smile, laugh even, reminding us to breathe out.
Commissioned for the Cape Ballet Africa dancers, Whispers From Within is Kuindersma’s first production in Africa, the continent of her birth. It is a perfect debut and homecoming.
The theme it conjures (that humans have the potential to be the best versions of themselves) is magnified by Nacho Duato’s Remanso. Three men, all perfect creatures, dance together in a dream of power, connection, confidence, love and non-judgement.
A lungful of crisp air, Remanso, set to music by Spanish composer Enrique Granados, is exciting and invigorating. These three brave young men dancing together without the foil of the ladies demands a deep connection, an intimacy and a trust that ‘modern men’ are taught to fear.
What is ‘remanso’? Let me tell you a little story:
A remanso is a still pool in running water, the liquid calm that is not swept up in the flow. Here, in the poem Variación (translation below), Federico García Lorca paints a picture:
Variación
El remanso de aire
bajo la rama del eco.
El remanso del agua
bajo fronda de luceros.
El remanso de tu boca
bajo espesura de besos.The remanso of air under the branch of echo.
The remanso of water under a frond of stars.
The remanso of your mouth under a thicket of kisses.This poem is part of Lorca's collection El Diván del Tamarit, published posthumously in 1940.
(with thanks to our resident Cute Spanish Guy, Carlos, for the voicenote)
Breathwords closes with an expanded version of South African choreographer, Kirsten Isenberg’s Reverie, an ethereal masterpiece set to Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto Number 2. This dreamy piece was brought to life by the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, notably Gerhard Joubert on the piano.
We loved it before, we love it still, although we had been left absolutely breathless by our first viewing of the other two pieces. We could only smile and sigh, breath deeply and think how lucky we are.
Breathwords, an absolutely classic Debbie Turner compilation performed by her wonderful new company Cape Ballet Africa, is a whole lot more than a breath of fresh air. It would be so very welcome even if we didn’t need it so badly. Let’s get rid of the bros and the ‘broligarchs’ and put these brave, beautiful, deeply connected ballet dancers in charge. Then we can all breath out.
One more night. Don’t miss it! Bookings Webtickets
A beautiful piece of what sounds like a perfect evening in these turbulent times... Exhaaale...