"The most exciting dance comes from the moments of fusion, of contorted bodies and sassy hips, and the theatrical characterisation, rather than the abject geometry of classical ballet." Nadine Botha contemplates the evolution of ballet as performed in <i>Windows</i>.
Hedonism is by definition an urgent philosophy. To demur, to decline, even to hesitate, is to fail. In a world in which all delights must be sampled, and all desires sated, there is no place for the passive thrill-seeker. If he lies face-down on the Ottoman in his vomitorium it must be because he has misjudged his ability to have sex with five people of various genders while eating chip-rolls and custard slices.
Most G8 countries are reneging on financial commitments to support the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, according to a report card released at the International Aids conference in Toronto, Canada. The findings, prepared by an alliance of health advocacy groups, graded 22 of the wealthiest countries on pledges made to the Global Fund for 2006 and 2007.
"Arts festivals are about discovery, about exploration … I want everyone here to have fun," said Pallo Jordan at the opening of the National Arts Festival. "Let us have a good time. Look at things. See how others see us and perhaps we’ll discover something about ourselves in an environment and in a context in which we’re enjoying ourselves." Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon was there.
As the National Arts Festival drew the curtains for 2004, Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon reflects on the cast of characters that filled the theatres and auditoriums, as well as the colourful arrays and performances
<i>Nguni: A Love Story</i> explores some of the tensions between the rights of women and some aspects of Zulu tradition in today’s climate. Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon reviews.
Sophocles’s classic is rearticulated in a context of terrorism, Aids and globalisation in Antigone. John Kani stars. Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon reviews.
Medical humanitarian organisation, Médécins Sans Frontières (MSF), continues to be the lone voice sounding the alarm about the cost and availability of newer Aids medicines in developing countries. Several speakers at the start of the International Aids Conference in Toronto, Canada, suggested that the cost of Aids drugs is no longer a major barrier to access.
Reza de Wets’s imaginative landscape is instantly recognisable, writes Matthew Wilhelm-Solomon of the striking and lingering <i>Breathing In</i>.
"I write this as a non-Jewish South African, a free and silent observer living in Tel Aviv in the midst of post-war and pre-what-next. As far removed from the danger as I have been, living in cushy Tel Aviv and all, the war has simmered and bubbled over into a tragedy for me, opening discussions and wounds of friends and colleagues that I never knew existed."