Wake up! You Need to Sweep the Courtyard is a vibrant arts event taking place in Mabhogo, Mpumalanga, two hours north of Johannesburg.
The driving person behind this cultural happening is Frenchman Martial Chazallon. He has been working as an anthropologist at Mabhogo for the past year, doing doctoral research on the dynamic and changing nature of Ndebele house murals. Being familiar with the house as the palette for Ndebele artwork and the French performance work Du Haus made by Collectif Ashra, Chazallon set about bringing these two creative energies together to experiment and to make a new dance-theatre-painting performance in rural Mabhogo.
Wake up! You Need to Sweep the Courtyard was born. It is an innovative creative workshop bringing together French performing artists with South African visual artists, rural and urban experiences, adults and children, science and art. This idea of meeting and merging the often-separated concepts of research and culture to build something new is a first for the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS).
The IFAS is the funder of this new cultural exploration. Chazallon the director, or ’mixer” as he calls himself, is supported by the choreography and performances of Martin Chaput and Ayse Tashkiran from Collectif Ashra. The set is being designed and built by Luc Perrot, who is assisted by many keen local children, wielding hammers and nails.
The set is being collaboratively painted by Ndebele artist Angelina Ndimande and Johannesburg painter Tracy Skinner. The set is magical because it can change into many different things: a bed or a house … The potential for objects to have many meanings is at the heart of this performance technique. For example, a local broom (umthanyelo) can sweep, be part of a grass landscape and much more!
Twelve children from the village are the able and enthusiastic cast accompanying Chaput and Tashkiran. The French artists have been working with the children in movement and song along with a local interpreter. Much of the work is derived through the integration of Ndebele and theatre improvisational games. The performance script is derived closely from cultural sharings experienced while working together.
This dance-theatre-painting performance is to be an outdoor, indoor site specific event at the Simuyembiwa Combined Primary School. If you want a reviving cultural experience away from the jaded politics of tired city theatres, come to Wake Up! You Need to Sweep the Courtyard. Pack your hat, umbrella, a picnic and lots of easy time and head to Mabhogo for the day.
Wake Up! You Need to Sweep the Courtyard will be performed on January 27 at 11am in Mabhogo. For further information and directions to Mabhogo contact Benedicte Motte at the French Institute of South Africa on Tel: (011) 836 0561/62/63. Follow the project at www.lefourneau.com