Andrew Gilder On the face of it the recent demise of the State Theatre ballet and dance companies, while politically expedient, seems to be a “giant leap backwards” for South African dance. From one perspective this is true. More than half of the professional dance contracts available in the country were lost. The other point of view is that the departure – particularly of the ballet ensemble, the management style of which was characterised by a blatant disregard for the political and artistic realities that came into play from the middle of the 1990s – is a positive move, leaving a gap crying out to be filled by the entreprenurially and/or artistically minded. Over the next few months that gap is to be solidly plugged by a plethora of local and visiting dance companies, varying in degrees of motivation from art to capitalism. Cape Town will be the only city to see all of the companies currently en route to South African stages. For this reason the reaction of audiences here to the forthcoming productions will be interesting. Dance in the Mother City has long been dominated by the opposing poles of the Cape Town City Ballet (previously Capab Ballet) and the Jazzart Dance Theatre. The tide of history happens to have left them as the only two remaining full-time professional dance companies in the country. Last month these two stalwarts of the apartheid-era status quo collaborated in an artistically successful triple bill season of modern works. Sadly ballet audiences, weaned on the choreographically banal, but impressively costumed and set classical works, stayed away from the Beyond the Borders season. This group makes up the majority of paying dance-watchers in the city – largely white, middle-class and generally non- representative of the youth the profession must woo if it is to survive. Better attendance at the recent (classical) rendition of Camille staged by the ballet company demonstrates that the dance box office is still dominated by classical ballet. This situation is by no means unique to Cape Town, or even to South Africa.
This cash demographic is the context of the looming seasons of dance soon to grace Capetonian stages. If audience reaction is true-to-form then the performances of the Bolshoi Ballet will rake in the lion’s share of the lucre. The October countrywide tour will be a union of hard capitalist sell and an artistic tradition reaching back centuries. To make the programme as appealing as possible a mixed bag of classical “greatest hits” is planned, including Giselle Act II and the Black and White Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake. underwritten by Mvelaphanda Diamond Company, which envisages taking a loss on its investment even if business is brisk – tickets will range in price from R150 to R300. Still within the classical milieu is the City Ballet’s version of Andre Prokovsky’s Dr Zhivago to be staged later in the year. Currently the Cape Town company is funded from a combination of sources, including the Western Cape Department of Environmental and Cultural Affairs and Sport, the National Arts Council, and Artscape (previously Capab). Bringing in a foreign choreographer to mount a full-scale classical work in these days of cash- strapped production budgets will be a gamble on the part of management – especially in light of an apparent lack of interest from commercial sponsors to assist with funding for this particular project. The Chiappini Ballet Trust has given R10E000 towards the cost, but the wisdom of the venture can only be tested once ticket offices open. It is probable though that the hype surrounding the visitor will contribute to Zhivago’s success at the bank.
The first of the expected contemporary companies is Cisne Negro (Black Swan) from Sao Paulo in Brazil. Formed 23 years nnago by artistic director Hulda Bittencourt from the ranks of her ballet nnschool and a few nngymnasts from nnthe Sao Paulo nnPhysical Education University, the group boasts nnan enviable nnselection of modern works. nnThree of these will be given during its short visit to Cape Town on September 5 and 6 and in Durban immediately thereafter. These are Impromptu by Brazilian Tindaro Silvano, Danses Concertantes by Briton Mark Baldwin, and Beyond the Skin by Frenchman Patrick Delcroix, whose work was seen in the Beyond the Borders triple bill. Apparently the Brazilian embassy was not forthcoming with financial assistance for the tour, so the company, originally intending also to perform at Arts Alive in Gauteng, are funding the trip themselves. Swiss ensemble Compagnie Phillippe Saire will make it to Arts Alive on the impetus of cash input from the Arts Council of Switzerland – Pro Helvetia. La Haine de la Musique (The Hatred of Music) is an hour- long melange of contemporary dance and smooth physical theatre. In its normal operation the group is largely self-funded and this piece, which involves karaoke as well as live music played by the dancers, can be seen from September 20 to 22 in Gauteng and at the One City Festival in Cape Town.
The Durban-based Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company, who perform at Arts Alive on September 8 and 9, are set to do a national tour of a new contemporary-dance version of Romeo and Juliet choreographed by Mark Hawkins and David Gouldie, directed by Robert Whitehead and designed by Sarah Roberts.
Operating on a project-to-project basis, they rely heavily on box office returns. This particular production is funded by the National Arts Council, Business and the Arts South Africa, The Independent on Saturday Durban Designer Collection and a variety of business and arts organisations. The works presented by Flying Fish always try to push the boundaries of the aesthetic, which often leads to an uneasy alliance between the artistic and profit motives. For this latest piece Hawkins admits to playing it quite “straight”, however.
This group is an example of how the dance profession is taking on the challenge of the new South Africa. For more information about the Arts Alive festival contact Tel: (011) 838E6407 or e- mail [email protected]