Gathering a flock of dancers

“IT WAS beautiful to hear her talking about the piece. For me she’s the person who so far has understood it the most. I think she was very touched and really wanted it for the anniversary of the company. I was very convinced by her,” said choreographer Jose Agudo about bringing his work to Cape Town.

While A Thousand Shepherds was originally created for Ace Dance & Music in Birmingham in the UK, he is now adapting it for the CDC.

The original brief was to create a piece for Ace which would fit into a programme around the concept of Mana (life force).

Initially, he wanted to choreograph around the idea of a monastery (“the medication, idea of devotion, the idea of fighting with faith”) because he had just spent some time in an ashram in Kerala, India. He discussed the idea with British dramaturg Lou Cope and did his research and development with the Birmingham dancers, but when he returned to Cope a few months later, the piece had progressed along another line.

“The good thing is she comes from outside and when she saw the work she said: ‘But they’re not in a monastery anymore, they’re going somewhere, they’re on a journey, on the road, it looks more like a pilgrimage’,” he remembers.

Agudo decided to follow the pilgrimage theme and now the dancers go on a journey.

Inspired by the music of flamenco singer Enrique Morente, Agudo hit upon A Thousand

Shepherds as a title: “I liked the idea of a group of people, 1 000 people, it’s a community trying to do something and the shepherds you can relate to.”

Agudo travelled to Cape Town in November to work with CDC dancers and some of the older Cape Academy of Performing Arts dancers and returned last month for rehearsals proper. This week he is in London, then it’s back to Cape Town for the finishing touches for the March 15 to 18 performances.

Adapting to the CDC style is tricky: “Because I’m not totally building on them, I’m restaging and I want to use their own tradition as well, something that belongs to Africa. I have found something very powerful in their spirituality. Of course, I need the traditions as well.

“That’s the beauty of contemporary art and dance; that it allows you to do that.”