DANCE DELIGHT IN THE MIDLANDS
Hilton contemporary dancer, Tegan Peacock, will be bringing her latest work, Head_Space to the Old Mushroom Farm on the Karkloof Road, outside Howick, this weekend.
The work comes to the Midlands fresh from performances on the Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival in Durban.
Head_Space was originally created for the Spielart Theaterfestival in Munich, Germany, and through this 30 minute dance performance Peacock attempts to trace the internal conversations of the body and the mind in turmoil.
“Our inner selves are often hidden, contained within a body of thought and held breath,” she says, “[and] who we are internally is not always a true representation of the self we choose to present to the world.
“If our minds and bodies experience thoughts, feelings and emotions that often wage war with each other ... how do we break free from the shackles of our own mind and body?”
Her musical collaborator on
Head_Space is Wayne Reddiar, an artist, musician and educator based in Pietermaritzburg. His work blurs the line between experimental art, sound installation and AV performance.
Hannah Lax, who has designed the production, is a multi-award winning theatre director and designer. Her work is centred on devised theatre and innovative, visual storytelling.
The Old Mushroom Farm performance is one of several Jomba! Edge productions being staged this weekend, under the umbrella of Peacock’s Rerouting Arts project. They will be staged at 6pm on Saturday, September 17.
Co-founder and artistic director of Phakama Dance Theatre, Sandile Mkhize presents Take Me Back Home, a duet that begins to rethink notions of black masculinity and brotherhood.
And, accomplished dancer and choreographer and artistic director of Rudra Dance Theatre, an Indian dance company, Pavishen Paideya presents Samsara - an honest and culturally magnificent dance journey into Diaspora Indian South African identity and ideas of home and belonging.
Tickets for the Jomba! performances are R80 and can be booked through https://bit.ly/ BookJombaReroutingHowick.
Peacock has been using a mix of visual and performance art for several years in an attempt to increase access to the arts and create dialogue between works and the people who view them and through this to bring about social change.
In 2019, she created the first Rerouting Arts Festival, which was staged at different places around Pietermaritzburg.
Speaking to Village Talk she said: “2022 feels like a new beginning. After a long two years, which has knocked artists and the art world, we are back with a start off event at The Old Mushroom Farm,” says Peacock.
“This year’s connection between Jomba! Contemporary Dance Festival and Rerouting Arts Festival offers us the chance to exchange, share and network with new artists, new audiences and new friends and build towards a new future.”
During the weekend Rerouting Arts will also host Artists for Artists, a platform to offer artists the chance to share their thoughts on the industry.
“Coming out of hard lockdowns and the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, has brought to light how isolated many local artists are,” says Peacock.
“We live and work in our individual silos and without regular events happening where conversation can take place there is little opportunity to create and build a sustainable artistic community.”
Peacock stressed that Artists for Artists was not a funding platform but rather a space for local artists from all artistic genres to meet and engage with other like-minded individuals.
She added: “These collective events will happen every three months with the intention of building a community of artists that are known to one another; are able to share, exchange and start conversations around problems facing the arts and artists in our local context and build an environment of artists supporting artists.
“If you are an artist, arts practitioner, teacher or arts administrator and you want to see the local arts scene in our community become the central hub for all things creative then we need to be part of the change.”
The event will take place on Sunday, September 18 from 10am to 11am. Email info@reroutingarts.co.za for more details or go to www.reroutingarts.co.za