Contemporary Dance in South Africa

This book explores when and how, and to what effect, the body in South African contemporary dance protests, subverts, or represents a site of the struggle against oppressive forces of power. It considers how the dancing body is choreographed, what meanings lie behind the movements it makes in space, the possible effect of these movements, how and why it is costumed, and its relationship to its setting and space. It examines a selection of contemporary South African dance works, including Flatfoot Dance Company’s Transmission: Mother to Child (2005), Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre’s Home (2003), Musa Hlatshwayo’s Umthombi (2004), Mlu Zondi’s Silhouette (2006), and Nelisiwe Xaba’s They Look at Me and That Is All They Think (2006).

Using both critical study of these works and the author’s own practice research, the book develops an understanding of the body in contemporary dance and its political and social meanings both in the chosen performance and within the broader context of South African society from 2003-2007. This provides a snapshot of the practice and concerns of contemporary dance in just over a decade from the first democratic national elections in 1994. It is through the study of these dance works that this moment in South African history is captured. Contemporary dance in South Africa tells the story of South Africa; its past, present, and possible future, and is therefore an enticing and evocative historical period to research a dance practice.