South African dance company Via Katlehong and Soweto-born choreographer Gregory Maqoma explore corruption, hope in Digidance presentation of Via Kanana
The North American premiere of the digital broadcast begins streaming during Black History Month
Via Katlehong. Photo by Christian Ganet
Digidance presents Via Kanana via on-demand digital streaming from February 16 to March 6.
VIA KANANA, PERFORMED by South African dance company Via Katlehong and choreographed by Soweto-born contemporary artist Gregory Maqoma, takes its name from a South African expression meaning “the promised land that never arrives” (kanana in the Sotho language).
Streaming nationally via Digidance—a nationwide initiative formed in response to COVID-19 by Vancouver’s DanceHouse, Toronto’s Harbourfront Centre, the National Arts Centre in (Ottawa), and Montreal’s Danse Danse (Montreal)—the hour-long work confronts widespread corruption in South Africa and expresses frustration over how little has changed for Black people since the end of apartheid.
Eight warrior-like dancers perform pantsula—a traditional dance form born out of South African protest that draws on everything from tribal dances to hip hop—as well as tap, step, and gumboot, a miners’ dance based on hand strokes on the thighs and calves. The styles intermingle for a riveting look of the problems and promise of the artists’ homeland.
“Digidance exists not only to share dance from around the world, but to bring audiences to the world through dance,” Jim Smith, artistic and executive director of DanceHouse, said in a release. “With Via Katlehong - a company founded in the dying days of apartheid - we present a history and a vision connected to one of the modern world’s most challenging chapters. And while Via Kanana examines the unfulfilled promises and powers of South Africa, made in the transition to democracy 30 years ago, it does so with exuberance, passion, and above all - hope.”
Founded in 1992, Via Katlehong is known for its distinct South African choreographic vocabulary and works that call for and celebrate positive change. The company is named after the township of Katlehong in the East Rand (Johannesburg), one of the deprived neighborhoods where the protestant Pantsula culture was born and that became a notorious war zone during the 1980s uprising.
The digital broadcast of Via Kanana will include a 20-minute pre-show documentary.
Tickets and more deatils are at dancehouse.ca.
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