adminSophia Chese Arts Correspondent
Tumbuka Dance Company will tonight present “Portrait of Myself as My Father”, choreographed by New York-based Zimbabwean performer/choreographer Nora Chipaumire, at Gava’s Restaurant at Belgravia Sports Club.
The performance is a send-off show for Tumbuka, who are set for the Johannesburg Dance Umbrella Festival in early March, marking the first time that the company has been commissioned for this prestigious festival.
In an interview with The Herald Entertainment, Tumbuka Dance Company spokesperson Anna Morris said “Portrait of Myself as my Father” was created in 2014 when Chipaumire visited Zimbabwe as part of a four-month research tour of four African cities supported by the New York Live Arts Suitcase fund.
“ She spent two months in the studio with the Tumbuka dancers in a research process that explored Zimbabwean movement and identity, the culmination of which is a 50-minute work for 10 dancers and three musicians.
“She donated her work to the Tumbuka repertoire in an effort to help us emerge from the last decade of difficulty and re-establish our identity as a premier African contemporary dance company,” she said.
She has hailed Chipaumire’s support to their organisation.
“Her input to Tumbuka has been so much more than a finished piece of choreography.
“She was able to impart her own passion and drive as a choreographer/performer and what the expectations of a performer on the world stage are, but most importantly, her profound understanding of ‘presence’ in relation to a Zimbabwean identity,” she said.
In “Portrait of Myself as my Father “, Chipaumire authors and celebrates masculinity (male presence and representation), the black African body and performance, as well as interrogates the “Zimbabwean self” as manifested through time, space and force (dance).
There will be live performances from musicians Fatima Katiji and new talent Tatenda Mapaso.
Online Reporter