Kalipile Gaxamba with his granddaughters Vuyisa and Lungisa in New Brighton last July.

Transaction Being Processed:

Metaphor, Identity, and Change in South Africa

by Eryn Rosenthal, in collaboration with Xolani Rani and other South African artists tba

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Identity post-apartheid, and our relationship to boundaries, limits, and new roles
In 1998-99, the last year of Nelson Mandela’s presidency and the year between the close of the Truth Commission (TRC) and the second all-democratic elections in South Africa, I had the privilege to interview over 80 artists, activists, psychologists, farmers, neighbors, and “ordinary people” throughout the country around questions of identity, metaphor, and freedom. I have continued and deepened this research on identity and change in post-apartheid South Africa, and will soon re-interview 10-15 people of those I originally interviewed and became friends with during my previous fellowship research; I have already re-interviewed previous and new interviewees during a recent research trip in July. Selections from these new interviews, along with excerpts from the original group, will then form the sound score of an evening-length dance theater work on identity post-apartheid, and our relationship to boundaries, limits, and new roles.

Interview-based performance experiments
In the second phase of the project, I will begin experimenting with different methods of bringing each interview to the stage in a series of smaller-scale pieces created in collaboration with South African artists and activists.  In the third phase of the project I will play with ways of juxtaposing these different interview-based pieces in dialogue with each other to form the complete work to premiere in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 2015.  The research will also culminate in a book of interviews and essays.

Dance and Democracy Workshops in Contact Improvisation
In addition, I will continue to conduct workshops in several South African townships and dance centers in Contact Improvisation, a partnering dance form that plays with the sharing of weight and investigates democracy, listening, roles, and habits.  (Please see Dance and Democracy workshop description under Teaching for more information.)  I will also continue to meet with other musicians, artists, and performers and develop relationships with potential artistic collaborators for the project.

Project currently in creation

Fellowship research in 1998-99 supported by a President’s Grant from the Open Society Institute and the Henry Hart Rice Foreign Residence Fellowship of Yale University.

© Eryn Rosenthal, 2010-11.  All Rights Reserved.