Celebrating disability week
SOUTH AFRICA’S premier Integrated Arts Platform will present a display of collaborative artistic works with mixed-abilities and from mixed genres in celebrating the International Week for People with Disability. The event will be held from November 28-December 2 at Artscape Theatre.
This year’s Unmute ArtsAbility Festival’s theme is Ability, presented by Unmute Dance Company in association with Artscape Theatre Centre. Professional artists and culture organisations in collaboration with people with various impairments will research and investigate in rehearsal studios “what ability means?” for people who are stereotypically perceived as ‘unabled’.
The jam-packed festival will start on November 28 at 7.30pm with the launch to be followed by stunning French duet performance.
November 29 will feature a collaboration of two dance pieces Access Me and Nothing Makes Sense taking centre stage. Access Me is performed by Yaseen Manuel, Nadine Mckenzie, Rae’ Classen and Andile Vellem and choreographed by company members of Unmute Dance Company. Nothing Makes Sense, performed by Thulani Chauke and Lionel Ackerman and choreographed by Thulani Chauke and Unmute Dance Company, is an interrogation of violence with a specific focus on the violence that emerges because of our continued human obsession with systems of classifications based on sex, race, gender, sexuality, class culture and physical ability.
December 1 is International Day for Persons with Disabilities – a day for everybody to create awareness of the abilities of persons with disabilities. It will include a fun and exciting programme aimed at South African youth. Unmute has given a performance platform to their education programme which will witness learners and dancers with mixed abilities being integrated through the performing arts.
The festival will then wrap up with a fine showcase of professional works by “Unmute & Friends”. This 6-day festival is inclusive of theatre performances, site-specific performances, artistic installations, exhibitions, film screenings, seminars and disability walks. Tickets for all productions (R25 for scholars, R25 for pensioners and students and R50 for the general public) are available via Computicket or 021 421 7695.