DANCE fans, friends and colleagues are rallying around award-winning dancer /choreographer Christopher Kindo as he faces a debilitating fight against cancer which is preventing him from earning income.
It's not the first and it won't
be the last, but the directors of Rust Coloured Skirt, fresh
from its premiere at the
National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, are donating turnover from Sunday's one-off show at Artscape Theatre at 6pm as a "gift of support".
"Christopher is probably a living legend and, though some members of the younger generation are not aware of this, he is one of the people responsible for changing the face of contemporary dance in South Africa," said Adele Blank.
Kindo was one of the dancers of colour who trained (illegally
at the time) at the UCT Ballet School and then fled from South Africa's separate-development race laws to forge a professional career with the Boston Ballet and MJT Dance Company in North America.
He returned after 1978 and "made history as a virtuoso dancer, inventive choreographer and teacher", Adrienne Sichel said last week in a blog post for the public engagement initiative of the 2014 Singapore International Festival of Arts.
Kindo's major works have been mounted by many of South Africa's professional dance companies,and in 2003 Ballet Theatre (Afrikan) acquired his highly acclaimed Me & You.
He served on the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees committee and as a judge on kykNET's reality dance competition Dans! Dans! Dans!
Kindo has won many
accolades, including the 1995 National Choreography Award for Die Dans van die Reen, the 1994 FNB Vita Award for Contemporary Choreography for The Lark, the 1993 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance/Choreography, the 1991 FNB Vita Award for Outstanding Male Dancer and Contemporary Choreography for Me, and the 1990 FNB Vita Award for Outstanding Male Dancer for Dance for Me, Sit Sat, and If You Can't Change the World, Change Your Curtains.
"I do not know of a dancer who was not challenged and stimulated by Christopher's work or an audience who did not leave one of his performances absolutely in awe of what this human being could create as a dancer/choreographer," said Blank.
She is another iconic dance luminary and recently celebrated a prolific 50-year career during which time she founded Free Flight Dance Company with Kindo as her associate in 1987.
Kindo crossed paths with Blank's fellow fund-raising campaigner Di Fincham, of the Theatre Dance Association, at Sonje Mayo's Jazzart dance studio in the early 1970s.
"Does anyone remember Papa was a Rolling Stone? Christopher brought the house down," said Fincham.
Alfred Hinkel bought what had become the Sue Parker Jazzart Contemporary Dance Company in 1986, changed its name to Jazzart Dance Theatre and proceeded to create the world-renowned Jazzart style - professional dance training and performance that "recognised the socio-political and economic context of the students who wanted to be trained and the audiences who wanted to watch them".
Dawn Langdown, John Linden and Jay Pather provided the "dancing, teaching and choreographic backbone".
Almost three decades later, the Jazzart relationship "turned sour" and Hinkel and Linden returned to O'Kiep in the Northern Cape. "We were going home to Namaqualand to rest," said Linden. "But here we are… starting again."
The result?
Garage Productions, and the development of new emotive works such as Rust Coloured Skirt.
Now inspired more by relationships than politics, Hinkel and Linden weave together personal stories in a way that they become universal, using text like music, performers as narrators, film for context.
Their soundtracks play a key role too.
Rust Coloured Skirt is performed by Hinkel, Byron Klassen, Adelaide Majoor and Debbie Goodman-Bhyat, and directed by Linden and Heinrich Reisenhofer.
It's a fascinating look at the journeys that have brought these generations together on the same stage.
Despite two decades separating their training, Hinkel's students find common ground instantly, and the connection is clear.
Rust Coloured Skirt is a
special piece that resonates through the performers'
humanness, honesty, talent and the sheer joy that they find in dance.
Don't miss it.
For more information
about how you can offer your
support, contact Fincham at 083 270 7883 or e-mail [email protected]
Rust Coloured Skirt is at Artscape Theatre this Sunday at 6pm. Tickets are R120 for adults, R80 for seniors and students. To book, call Computicket at
0861 915 8000.