Dance Umbrella – small, but with a lot of punch

ROBYN SASSEN
Pictured : Gregory Maqoma in “Lonely Together”.

PHOTOGRAPH BY ALBERT VIDAL

The SAJR spoke to Georgina Thomson (pictured), the festival’s artistic director. “I was living in Durban when it started,” the former dancer said. “The whole country was so excited at the idea of a dance platform.”
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She moved to Johannesburg in 1991 and worked in various arts administrative capacities before she was noticed by arts entrepreneur Philip Stein, who ran Vita, a company which gave life to a bouquet of awards – in craft, visual art and dance.

“He set me up in my own public relations company. Three years later, Nicola Danby, the then manager of the Vita Awards programme approached me to join Dance Umbrella. And that was that.”

For 19 years, Thomson has fought battles of funding versus critical merit, staving off everything from Steven Cohen’s outrageous gestures to amateurism in Stepping Stones, Dance Umbrella’s fringe.

“The last five years haven’t been the best. In Vita’s time, that visionary, Philip Stein, negotiated a new funding contract every three years. After FNB withdrew and Philip died, I believed we wouldn’t have a problem finding funders: Dance Umbrella is big. It has international programmes; national popularity. I was wrong.”

She mentions how a Dance Umbrella – in the past it has stretched over 10 days, jam-packed with productions – needs a three year lead for planning.

“The National Lottery has been our saviour.” With money in the bank, she is currently planning next year’s Dance Umbrella. “It will happen February/March, as usual. Last year and this, for funding reasons, Dance Umbrella piggy-backed on the Arts Alive festival, hosted by the City of Johannesburg, in September, breaking patterns over 20 years old.

She agrees that this Dance Umbrella is tiny. “But it’s tight.” With seven works over seven days, you can easily see everything. Its featured collaborations include Vuyani Dance Theatre (VDT) founder Greg Maqoma, who debuted under Sylvia Glasser, opposite Roberto Olivan from Spain in “Lonely Together”, and “Cargo: Precious”, premised on Saartjie Baartman’s tragic life choreographed by PJ Sabbagha and directed by Sylvaine Strike, which debuted at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival.

There’s also a work by Dunia Dance Theatre, a Brussels-based company from Zimbabwe, “Baobab Shadows”, and Portia Mashigo’s “More in Than Out of Time”. Another of Glasser’s protégés, Luyanda Sidiya, artistic director of VDT presents “7 Pillars” and Moya Michael, a Standard Bank Young Artist collaborates with Belarus dancer Igor Shyshko in “Darling”.

This Dance Umbrella is headlined by “Les Nuits” choreographed by Paris’ Ballet Preljocaj. “I saw them in Reunion,” Thomson is unequivocal. “I’ve never seen anything like it. And I’ve been around. It blew me away. It is balletic, but new. It’s pure dance at its best. Whatever else you might see on any stage, you will never see something like this. Ever.”

* Visit www.danceforumsouthafrica.co.za or call (011) 492-0709.