Via Kanana
February 16 – March 6, 2022
Video on demand (VOD) streaming in Canada only.
Running time: 90 minutes
Digidance – Via Katlehong Dance (South Africa)
February 16 – March 6, 2022
Pulsing with rhythmic energy, the seven dancers and single musician of Via Katlehong Dance have teamed up with contemporary choreographer Gregory Maqoma for Via Kanana, examining corruption in South Africa and asking wider questions about those in power and the unfulfilled promises made in the transition to democracy. Careening from the mundane to the metaphorical, this production takes its inspiration from South Africa itself, evoking a new promised land that never arrives (Kanana in the Sotho language) which people must rise up and seek for themselves.
Under South Africa’s apartheid regime, black rural populations were displaced to the townships that ring big cities. In these ghettos, surrounded by unemployment and crime, Pantsula was born as a dance of protest. Originally just a dance, it’s now a lifestyle, covering fashion, music, and language. Via Katlehong Dance, founded in 1992, combines pantsula, tap dance, step, and gumboot—a miners’ dance based on handstrokes on the thighs and calves—into a distinctly South African choreographic language that celebrates the urban and calls for positive change.
Choreographer Gregory Maqoma is one of the most talented artists of South Africa’s new generation. As a dancer, teacher, and choreographer, Maqoma’s work is vibrant and elegant, earning him numerous awards for choreography and for elevating South African culture.
This Digidance livestream is an initiative of DanceHouse (Vancouver), Danse Danse (Montreal), Harbourfront Centre (Toronto), and the National Arts Centre (Ottawa).
A marvellous hour or so that got the immediate standing ovation it fully deserved.”—SeeingDance.com
“ the energy and exuberance of this dance form and these supremely skilled practitioners was electrifying.”—Dance Tabs
“Beyond protest, Via Kanana is a hymn to hope.”—Toute la Culture
With Support from:
The award-winning Via Katlehong Dance was formed in 1992. Originally a community troupe, Via Katlehong was made up of youth from the Township of Katlehong in the East Rand – a notorious war zone during the 1980s uprising in South Africa – to keep away from the criminal activity raging in their township.
Led by Vusi Mdoyi, Steven Faleni, and Buru Mohlabane, the company comprises a community school of dance and an 18-member professional company. They specialize in Pantsula, a South African Township dance, and other neo-traditional forms.
Via Katlehong helped make Pantsula culture an important feature of today’s South African contemporary dance. They have won many awards along the way, including FNB Vita Dance, Dance Umbrella awards, Gauteng Dance Showcase, KTV Most Brilliant Achievement and Gauteng MEC Development Award amongst others.
They also participated in “Step Africa”, an international cultural exchange involving South Africa, the United States and Great Britain. The piece Nkululeko – celebrating 10 years in South Africa was performed in many cities and dance festivals in France.
Via Katlehong have led the way, bringing creativity, energy, and rebellious attitude of Pantsula dance onto the international stage. Using its unique dance style and choreographic language, energetic movement, big sounds made by boot, hand clapping, whistling, sinning, tap-sound… it’s magic, and uniquely South African.
Gregory Maqoma
Dancer, choreographer and teacher, Gregory Maqoma is considered to be one of the most talented artists of the new generation in South Africa. Born in Johannesburg in 1973, he began his career with Moving into Dance, a company founded by Sylvia Glasser, an artist who has done much to promote exchange and dialogue between artists from different cultures.
In 1994, his first creation for the company won the FNB Vita Pick of the Fringe award; a year later, he was awarded a prize, this time in the Stepping Stones category. In 1998, he received a grant to create Layers of Time, his last work with Moving into Dance. In 1999, he founded the Vuyani Dance Theater.
Gregory Maqoma created the piece Rhythm 1.2.3 for which he was elected choreographer of the year 2000 by the Dance Umbrella Festival in Johannesburg. The same year, he choreographed Rhythm Blues, collaborated with Faustin Linyekula for the project Tales of the Mud Wall presented at the ImPulsTanz festival in Vienna and participated in the project New Directions for the Standard Bank National Arts Festival.
At the Centre national de la danse (France), he presented Southern Comfort in 2002, Miss Thandi in 2003 and Beautiful in 2005, the first part of a series of works, which concludes Beautiful Me. We also saw Gregory Maqoma in the dazzling Variations for Vibes, Strings & Pianos, choreographed by Akram Khan, on the occasion of the 70th birthday of the American composer Steve Reich in 2006 at the Cité de la Musique with the London Sinfonietta.
Top photo: Via Kanana by Via Katlehong © Christian Ganet.
