Share This Article
24 March 2022 to 26 March 2022. Meraki (v.) to do something with soul, creativity, or love; to leave a piece and essence of yourself in your work
Taking place at the Artscape theatre in Cape Town, 24 – 26 March 2022, Jazzart Dance Theatre’s fulltime dancers will perform their graduate work entitled‘Meraki’. The eagerly awaited production will highlight three key works the dancers have co-created since enrolment in 2019. ‘Meraki’ celebrates the dancers’ hard work and commitment and showcases their exceptional talent, which has been honed and cultivated by three acclaimed South African dance makers.
‘Meraki’ is directed by Dane Hurst and Shaun Oelf, Jazzart’s Artist in Residence and features his latest work ‘Awake’. The programme opens with ‘Frontline’, choregraphed by Hurst in 2021 and is followed by Jazzart’s former Artistic Director, Sifiso Kweyama’s work, ‘Solid’, which premiered at the Artscape in 2019.
‘Frontline’ was created during a time of global pandemic and protest, a monumental time of change whose echoes still reverberate today. During 2020, Hurst worked remotely with Jazzart’s dancers and choreographed the work with the assistance of Oelf. It should have debuted in 2020 but only hit the theatre stage in 2021. As can be expected, the work examines the people, including our youth, caught up in the chaos, whilst putting themselves on the line and often finding themselves in harm’s way at the frontline.
Kweyama’s ‘Solid’, skilfully, and sensitively interlaces the individual stories into one fluid and cohesive dance that progresses through life’s intricate journey, materialising as a peaceful, joyful, and united human element, protective and nurturing of one another, and of the environment we call home.
The production ends with Shaun Oelf’s ‘Awake’. This new choreographic, audio-visual dance work explores the notion of being AWAKE. What does it mean? Is it the process of being fully conscious, alert, and aware, or is it the feeling of total wellbeing, or both?
Oelf believes that by peeling away the many layers of self and ushering in a willingness, not just to look within, but to act, can give rise to a newfound truth. We might originate from the same source, says Oelf, but it’s our life’s experience that makes us different to the next person including, our physical and spiritual journey, and it’s this process of awakening which makes it unique.
‘Meraki’ is representative of the dancers and teachers’ collective artistic souls, lithely and artfully combined into a unified movement, that speaks to their journey and growth over the past three years. It is something to be remembered and a must see for both young and old.
Event details:
Tickets are available at Computicket and the cost is R 120 per ticket with a discount of R 100 for block bookings.
Performances take place on 24 March 2022 to 26 March at 20h00 with a matinee performance on the 26 May at 16h30.
For media enquiries please contact jeni@networxpr.co.za
All Covid-19 safety protocols will be observed. Limited seats available.