Dance star shines in boardroom role
The financial demands of realising his dream keep this acclaimed artist on his toes, says Annette Bayne
FLOURISH: Gregory Vuyani Maqoma strikes an attitude
ONE of South Africa’s most influential artists, Gregory Vuyani Maqoma, has the sort of story the country craves: born in Orlando East, Soweto, in 1973, he discovered a love for dance and a way of escaping an underprivileged reality.
Now he is living the dream — albeit one burdened with responsibility. Formally trained under Sylvia Glasser at Moving into Dance Mophatong, Maqoma has garnered local and international success for himself and for the company, Vuyani Dance Theatre, he founded in 1999.
He is now staging two fulllength contemporary dance shows: Four Seasons, first performed in 2010, which opened at the Market Theatre this weekend and is a newly nominated prescribed work for dance studies in grades 10 to 12, and Full Moon at the Joburg Theatre next month. Its music was composed by Isaac Molelekoa and it is performed by the South African National Youth Orchestra. The costumes are designed by Jacques van der Watt of Black Coffee.
This is a brave move in an industry in which funds are tight, but, with his usual determination, Maqoma is forging ahead, promising inspiration, innovation and a whole lot of panache.
In conversation, Maqoma is charismatic, but he does not give a great deal away.
It is through his dance that one meets the man. His work is innovative and evocative, often described as breathtaking. Thematically, he started out by weaving stories around his own socioe-
When I dance is when I feel I can close off from everything; it is about myself, my ancestors and God
conomic realities, such as his Vita Dance Umbrella award-winning Beautiful Me (2010), which used words and movement to tell his life story.
More recently, he has started focusing on the environment. Four Seasons explores a transient natural world and man’s place in it. Maqoma describes Full Moon as a “transformational journey to the stars and back, to the fairy lands of our ancestors — the lands we once knew and continue to desire”.
It is difficult to separate Maqoma from his company; he no longer speaks of his vision as an individual dancer or choreographer, rather referring to the company as a whole. This is despite the fact that he continues to be courted as a solo performer by international audiences and regularly tours to Paris and New York. When in South Africa, he spends his time teaching and mentoring up-and-coming dancers and choreographers.
These days, you are just as likely to see Maqoma in the boardroom selling the Vuyani vision to potential corporate partners. Like many of the more marginalised art forms, the contemporary dance industry remains a hard sell for many corporate funders, and over the past few years many dance companies have radically reduced in size and scope, or disappeared altogether.
Yet Maqoma seems to have defied the trend, comfortably assimilating the role of businessman. He talks the language with the savvy of an investment banker, promising a product of value with a real return on investment. And he is enough of a mover and shaker to clinch the likes of Constitutional Court Justice Edwin Cameron as the company’s patron.
For every stride forward the company makes, such as its move to its own building on the premises of the Soweto Theatre in Jabulani later this month, there are expectations that need to be met — and Maqoma shoulders the responsibility.
“When I dance is when I feel I can close off from everything; it is about myself, my ancestors and God. It is that moment that I want to claim — and can be — by myself. I need to go into that personal space when things become too much and I do it better when I am on stage. I am able to communicate with an audience and it gives me freedom to release all of those tensions,” he said.
His extended stay in South Africa for the past few months, giving him a break from international touring, has also given Maqoma the opportunity to create another space for himself, and he has made a decision to spend more time with his family.
“I regret I didn’t spend enough time with my father, who passed on six years ago. I would have loved to have known him better. I left home when I was 18 to take up my first dance residency and have been working and touring ever since.
“I am only now getting to know my brothers. They have given me the space to perform. It’s now time to give it back.”