Association Noa/Vincent Mantsoe: San

Coming to REDCAT February 9--13, 2011. Tickets and info at http://www.redcat.org

Raised in Soweto in the 1980s, internationally renowned choreographer Vincent S.K. Mantsoe has forged a distinctive style of "Afro Fusion" dance, energetically mixing the ritual dances and rhythms from his family line of traditional healers with street dancing and popular moves. Now, inspired by the journeys and spirits of the Khoi-San people of Southern Africa, Mantsoe's newest work brings together five dancers of different cultures—all linked in one way or another—in a powerful piece that traces the history of a people forced from their land, silenced and subjected to continued brutality. Set to a mesmerizing score by famed Iranian vocalist and Sufi music master Shahram Nazeri and interspersed with the 12th-century poetry of Rumi, San draws a line from ancient past to contemporary experience. As Mantsoe reveals the diverse ancestral influences within the dancers' movements, his company expresses the range of joy, exaltation and melancholic despair that have become the melodies of their bodies today.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Dance
• REDCAT
• Contemporary
• South Africa
• Vincent Mantsoe
• Association Noa