Thanks to support from the City of Johannesburg, local audiences will get to see the latest dance/theatre work by 24 year-old trailblazer, Dada Masilo. Her CARMEN, which dazzled audiences at the recent National Arts Festival, will be staged at The Dance Factory from September 10th to 13th, as part of the Arts Alive International Festival.
In 2008, Masilo was the recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance. For that National Arts Festival, she created a ROMEO AND JULIET, based closely on Shakespeare’s text – but reflecting the youth of the title characters in her use of Bach and Vivaldi, performed by Vanessa Mae and Nigel Kennedy. The work drew large critical and audience support and was restaged for the Arts Alive International Festival 2008, where it failed to disappoint. In October, it goes to the Baxter Theatre Centre in Cape Town.
CARMEN posed an even bigger challenge. Masilo says: I began with the idea of unraveling Carmen the woman – to search beneath the surface presented in the ballets and operas – to find the vulnerability beneath the cold, heartless exterior. In the process of research, there was so much to unravel: I searched for Bizet and found Shchedrin, I discovered many existing narratives. Ultimately, I have created a narrative which allows me and the dancers to do what we love most – to dance.
The first phase of CARMEN, was UNRAVELLING CARMEN a thirty-minute work commissioned by the FNB Dance Umbrella with additional support from the National Arts Council. This work, for seven dancers, premiered last March.
Masilo is frequently asked how long it takes her to create a full length work. She usually says three weeks’ but in fact, the research takes months longer – and often continues after the work’s first, or even second staging. She is in love with narrative – telling a story, and the sharing of real time with the audience; and also gets personally involved with all aspects of the production, from costumes to lighting design.
In CARMEN, Masilo leads a cast of 12 dancers including Penny Ho Hin, Carlynn Willliams, Lulu Mlangeni, Nicola Haskins, Vishanthi Arumugam, Gustin Makgeledisa, Mpho Masilela, Bailey Snyman, Xolani Mthabela and Lesego Ngwato. For music, she has chosen Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite-Ballet Suite for strings and percussion based on themes from Carmen by George Bizet; Bizet’s Carmen Suites;
Maria Callas singing the Habanera; and two sections of Arvo Part’s Lamentate.
The work runs without an interval and has not suitable for under 16s. Performances run on Thursday 10th and Friday 11th September at 20h00, Saturday 12th at 18h00 and Sunday 13th at 14h30. Ticket at R85 for Adults, R55 for Students, Pensioners and Groups of 10 or more, are available at Computicket. For further information, call The Dance Factory on 011 833 1347 or e-mail dancefactory@icon.co.za.
Excerpts from CARMEN reviews at the National Arts Festival:
`simply superb!...The way Masilo moves is breathtaking…pliable, and sexy…There may never have been a bolder, more erotic Carmen…joins the list of brilliantly choreographed and danced performances accomplished by this bright star which is Masilo, and the packed house and ovation on its opening performance is…further testimony to the fact. If you have the slightest glimmer of interest in dance, you cannot miss this work of art. And if you are not interested in dance in the slightest, you must see this work, for it’ll change your mind.’ Steve, Artsblog, The National Arts Festival Blog, Thurs 2 July, 2009.
`Dada Masilo takes a generally politely veiled tale of sexual violence and manipulation, and split its seams wide…The role she adopts in Carmen fleshes her into something irrevocably more terrible and sophisticated…This Carmen is more heartless than Lady Macbeth – she can kill, she can tease, she can break men with the flick of an eyelash, the thrust of her body or the flexing of her wrists. She’s tempestuous, bold and flamboyant, and she snatches the audience attention with characteristic urgency…you cannot pull your eyes off her.’ Robyn Sassen, Cue, Fri 3 July, 2009.
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