Nombuyiselo Maloyi
JESUS CHRIST is being carried by dancers, two by two, across a cement floor covered with a worn-out carpet in an eight-by- four rehearsal room that looks like an attic.
The music changes and he disappears under a bundle of bodies as the dancers lift their hands from waist level to sky high. The cast of 30, all graduates of Volks- wagen’s MusicActive programme, is in motion for rehearsals of the once-banned Jesus Christ Superstar, set to open next week at the Victory in Orange Grove.
The Webber/Rice rock opera, based on the Gospel of St John, tells the story of the last three days of Christ’s life on earth.
For most of the players, this is their first encounter with a theatre. Pupils from 26 Johannesburg schools, ages ranging from 15 to 21, joined the MusicActive programme in March.
After a six-week stint during which they received tuition in acting (from Percy Pitso, Reggie Ledimo and Robert Colman), music and dance (from Nomsa Manaka), trainees were invited to audition for the MusicActive theatre companies.
Behind the group’s success is director/actor Vanessa Cooke, a Market Theatre trustee and education co-ordinator of the Market Laboratory school programme.
Despite the unsuitable floor, the dancers enjoy what they’re doing. Lead dancer Steven Selo (19), a Standard Eight pupil at Thesele High School in Soweto, regards it as an opportunity of a lifetime.
Seventeen-year-old Jeremiah Ngobese of Spruitview — who plays Jesus — sums it up: “I never thought I would be able to do this. It feels fantastic to give your best.”
* Jesus Christ will run at the Victory Theatre from August 31 to Sept 6