It’s more than just entertainment
Not many people seem to realise that dancing is also a career
ZIYANDA MGANDELA ziyanda.mgandela@inl.co.za
YOUNG people shouldn’t see jazz as music for the older generation because young people also make beautiful jazz music.
This was the message from drummer Ayanda Sikade, 39, ahead of his performance at Alliance Francaise, in Durban, on Friday, February 28.
Sikade started playing drums at the age of 10, playing for the Vuka Jazz band, in East London, where he was born. He said his love for music started when he would listen to his grandmother singing.
“My gran didn’t play instruments but she had a beautiful voice,” Sikade said.
In 1999, at the Grahamstown Youth Festival, he met Professor Darius Brubeck, who was head of the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at UKZN. Brubeck invited Sikade to join the jazz programme at the university and, in 2001, he enrolled with UKZN for a diploma in music performance.
Sikade said his music career kicked off after he had completed his diploma. In 2004, he received a scholarship to take Masters classes in Basel, Switzerland.
Sikade said he had worked with some of the most accomplished jazz musicians, in South Africa and abroad, including Feya Faku, Bheki Mseleku, Robbie Jansen, Barney Rachabane and Darius Brubeck.
“One of the moments that had the most impact on my career was working with the late internationally acclaimed saxophonist, Zim Ngqawana, with whom I have recorded two albums (Live in Basel Switzerland and Live in Heidelberg Germany),” Sikade said.
He said his music was inspired by his life events, family and people close to him: “I tell the story of my life through my music”.
At Alliance Francaise, Sikade will perform with his band, Leon. He said the band was exploring new sounds, by introducing an African context within an American jazz approach.
Sikade will play drums, Leon Scharnick will be on the alto sax, Sibusiso Mashiloane will be on piano and Dalisu Ndlazi will be on bass.
“We do this by composing music with a strong cultural and spiritual background of our great ancestors, but with a modern twist that represents our diversity in the new South Africa,” he explained.
Doors open at 6pm for 7pm. Ticket sales R100 at Alliance Francaise, 22 Sutton Crescent, Morningside. Book at info.afdbn@ alliance.org.za or 031 312 9582.
CONTEMPORARY dancer Zinhle Nzama believes it is up to dancers to make people see dance as a career instead of just entertainment.
Nzama, 32, is one of the three Flatfoot Dance Company dancers in the Busy Seeing Red act, at the KZNSA Gallery next week.
She said Busy Seeing Red was a dance routine inspired by the social ills which South Africans confronted every day, and the anger that followed.
“The work focuses on different angers and rage we experience in our daily lives; the personal political anger and exploring the current gender violence, and how we deal with the anger which consumes us as a nation daily,” Nzama said.
She joins two other senior Flatfoot dancers, Sifiso Khumalo and Jabu Siphika, and Mthoko Mkhwanazi steps into his first professional choreographic role in the company, which celebrates its 17th anniversary this year.
Nzama began dancing 15 years ago when she joined dance lessons at Phenduka Dance Theatre.
Six years ago she started her journey with Flatfoot Dance Company and has never looked back. She said the part she enjoyed most about her job was working with young stars in the company’s community-based projects: “It is such a great joy and you grow so much from it, not just as a dancer/ teacher but also as a human being.”
Although Nzama has a passion for dance, she admitted it had its challenges. She said injuries were the biggest challenge as a dancer; that it was hard to overcome them and they were emotionally draining. However, her injuries have never held her back from her goal of being one of the best dancers in Durban. Her dedication to her craft had Netherlands’ Maas Theatre and Dans select her as part of its Work Rite act which was staged in Cape Town and at the Terschelling’s Oerol festival, held annually in the Netherlands.
Nzama said she enjoyed working with different dancers and choreographers because they made her grow as a dancer.
“I wouldn’t say there is one specific person I look up to. I mean I’ve had the privilege of working with a lot of great people and they all come with something great and beautiful. I think I would take a piece from everyone I’ve worked with and put all of those together, and create my own person to look up to.
“Yes, there is a perception that there isn’t too much money in arts, especially in dance; but it’s like that because people don’t see dance as a real career. We are placed at the bottom of the ladder. So it’s up to us dancers to fight that notion so that everybody else can look at dance as a career, not just as an entertainment thing,” Nzama said.
Joining Nzama on stage will be Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika, Sbonga Ndlovu, Ndumiso Dube, Siseko Duba, and Mthoko Mkhwanazi. Lighting and sound design are by Wesley Maherry and Clare Craighead.
Artistic director of Flatfoot, Lliane Loots, said she was humbled by the power of art to allow dialogue, especially at a time in history where there was so much rage and anger.
“As a dance maker, I am increasingly interested in the power of multiple voices to tell stories and what better way than to encourage the profound dance voices of the senior Flatfoot dancers to bring their vision to this work?” said Loots.
The show on Friday, February 21, will start at 6.30pm. Ticket at R60 from flatfootdancecompany@gmail. com or the KZNSA gallery.