Opening Performance & Dialogue: Chant
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Date
2020-07
Authors
Mahlangu, Nhlanhla
Taylor, Jane
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Arts Research Africa, The Wits School of Arts, University of the Witwatersrand
Abstract
Chant is an astonishing piece, combining a potent engagement with Ritual as Theatre/Theatre as Ritual, and is a work through which Mahlangu explores his multi-dimensional and cross-generational relations as a source of performance energy. It thus has some elements that draw on a psychological and resolutely archaic mode of staging. Yet, the work also explores a form of hyper-modernity, with a vacuum-cleaner as a signifier for his grandmother, who raised him.
Description
Chant is an astonishing piece, combining a potent engagement with Ritual as Theatre/Theatre as Ritual, and is a work through which Mahlangu explores his multi-dimensional and cross-generational relations as a source of performance energy. It thus has some elements that draw on a psychological and resolutely archaic mode of staging. Yet, the work also explores a form of hyper-modernity, with a vacuum-cleaner as a signifier for his grandmother, who raised him.
Keywords
artistic research, arts research, decolonisation, arts pedagogy,
Citation
Chant is an astonishing piece, combining a potent engagement with Ritual as Theatre/Theatre as Ritual, and is a work through which Mahlangu explores his multi-dimensional and cross-generational relations as a source of performance energy. It thus has some elements that draw on a psychological and resolutely archaic mode of staging. Yet, the work also explores a form of hyper-modernity, with a vacuum-cleaner as a signifier for his grandmother, who raised him.