Captivating public arts fest
KASI 2 KASI PUBLIC ART FESTIVAL. At The Black Box Theatre Precinct in Delft. TRACEY SAUNDERS reviews
THERE had been much anticipation leading up to the Kasi 2 Kasi
Public Art Festival scheduled to be held in Delft on April 23 and Khayelitsha this Saturday. The event was initially supported by the Africa Centre and billed as part of the ITC sessions. Faced by funding constraints the popular Infecting
the City Festival was cancelled in its original format and sessions held as one day events had been presented in the CBD earlier this month.
The public art festival takes the performing arts out of indoor theatre spaces and presents them in public urban spaces, transforming pavements to stages and streets to auditoriums. News announced that the Kasi 2 Kasi Festival had been postponed due to the absence of a permit was met with bitter disappointment and the mood was as gloomy. Ironically Infecting the City is described by the Africa Centre as intending to disrupt the absurdity that we need permission from anyone to expose our humanity. Tanner Methvin of the Africa Centre explained that “the permits office has a mandatory 15 working day processing period which we hoped to expedite. Unfortunately this was not possible, but no fault of the permits office.”
Mandisi Disi Sindo, artistic director of Theatre 4 Change and curator of the festival expressed his disappointment saying, “I am very passionate and respectful of the art taking place in the townships/communities. I was obviously disappointed that the City of Cape Town could not grant us a permit to practice our art in our very own communities to heal and teach the communities from these disadvantaged backgrounds.” He did not allow the despair to linger however and after a meeting of fellow artists the decision was made to proceed with the festival in an abbreviated format despite the lack of funding support. “The decision of bringing Kasi
2-Kasi back to the people was not an individual decision but a collective one from a group of committed artists. When you work with and for the artists, you have to consult them and share your heart and your ideas to them to grow together.”
Saturday dawned bright and clear, a meteorological signal blessing the day’s proceedings and the large gathering of people waiting outside the Black Box Theatre in Delft were greeted by the Light of Life Theatre Company walking towards them as Melissa Peter and Aphiwe Mpahleni staged Intact/Tainted Image, originally performed at The Zabalaza Festival.
Their piece set the tone for the performances that followed with a sense of meditative ritual.
Sibonelo Dance Project performed Abangabonwa an enthralling dance piece which continued with a rhythmic sense of ritual. The dancers were superb and as they danced undeterred by the heat of the sun they skilfully adapted their choreography to the space in front of the theatre and there was a palpable sense of connection with the audience.
Chuma Sopotela incongruously dressed in a green velvet evening dress, protective elbow pads and roller skates led the ever-growing crowd to the Pantsula display by the Gunyalakha Art Movement.
Dancing with lightning speed and a sense of style from a bygone era they acquired a small troupe of young fans who attempted to replicate their moves. Sopotela, in a parody of a drunken observer was ever present, her comical antics masking an underlying and sobering cautionary about the pervasive dangers of alcohol.
Audience members perched on top of a container had the best view of the Moving Stories Theatre Company dance piece Umhlaba. The all women dance troupe were magnificent. Dressed in black they embodied a feminine power that pulsated and threw a quiet sense of awe on the crowd gathered around the tarred playground. The audience streamed into the theatre for the final per- formance of the festival. The pitch dark space proved too much for some of the younger members of the gathering who added their cries to the opening music of Elvis Sibeko’s powerful mixed media dance performance Black Tears.
Opening with the words of a prayer projected behind him Sibeko danced the pain of poverty, rape and violence with a captivating combination of projections which bounced off his body and the screen, a fluid canvas absorbing the flames of candles and fire.
Ending with a rousing recording of R Kelly’s Victory the festival came to a jubilant albeit reluctant close and the audience who had faithfully followed the day’s proceedings streamed out of the theatre. From babies strapped on to their mother’s backs to an elderly woman with grey streaked hair, a young boy who skipped exuberantly following each dance step to the bemused neighbour observing the spectacle leaning on his garden gate this was a festival by the community and for the community.
Sindo’s summary of the day cap- tured the spirit. “It was all about the unity of young black artists,” he said. “Such revolution is needed at times to get what you want. The only thing we want is to do what we do in town in our communities too. It’s sad that as artists we go heal the outside while where we come from our people are not healed enough. It’s time we see things differently, it’s time we serve all.” As to the future of the Kasi 2
Kasi Festival, Sindo is confident and enthusiastic.
More exciting, healing and ground-breaking productions are to be seen in different townships. “Our priority is to take the festival to disadvantaged communities and rural areas because that is where artistic work is needed and where we hardly see performing arts takes place.
The team will work tirelessly running around knocking on different doors trying to get funds to progress the festival as planned.”
With the combination of this indomitable spirit, the dedication of the artists and an audience hungry for the performing arts I have no doubt that the festival will become an established feature on the festival circuit. www.facebook.com/Kasi-2Kasi-Public-Art-Festival