Frusted, Faustin and FELA!
My 2010 Performance Highlights by Jeanette Bain-Burnett (ADAD Director)
Piece: Frusted (pictured)
Company: ADiaspora Collective (Vicki Igbokwe/ Uchenna Dance and Alesandra Seutin/ Vocab Dance)
Performed at Dance Umbrella’s Brief Encounters (Purcell Room, Southbank Centre), Breakin Convention (Sadler’s Wells main stage) and the Re:Generations Conference (Lilian Baylis, Sadler’s Wells), this piece features a powerful all-female cast. Frusted explores the everyday frustrations that women face, using a unique, rhythmically charged fusion of African, Contemporary and Urban dance. The piece also toured to Germany and France in 2010. Fresh, authentic and emotionally charged, Frusted is a truly engaging dance theatre experience.
Piece: More, more, more…future
Company: Faustin Linyekula/ Studios Kabako
Following on from their African Crossroads season in 2009, Dance Umbrella presented Fautin Linyekula’s More, more, more…future at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre in October 2010. Working closely with guitarist, Flamme Kapaya, Linyekula roots this piece in the popular Congolese music form, Ndombolo. The piece is multilayered with elaborate costumes made of recycled materials, projected imagery including the faces of African leaders including Patrice Lumumba, dance, spoken word and music.
The performers deliver More, more, more…future with an intensity equal to the harsh political reality of the Democratic Republic of Congo, which forms the backdrop for Linyekula’s practice, and a personal commitment which speaks to the creativity and strength of character needed to survive and thrive in these circumstances.
Piece: FELA!
Company: Presented by the National Theatre; Choreographed by Bill T. Jones
The much-anticipated Broadway production, FELA!, opened at the National Theatre in October 2010 and saw an extended run until the end of January 2011. FELA! was a truly great night out in the theatre. I left entertained, inspired and educated about a key figure in world music history. Beautiful set design, a strong cast of actors, singers and dancers …quot; all skillfully employed to tell the captivating life story of Afro-beat legend, Fela Anikulapo Kuti.
FELA! is produced in association with Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, Roy Gabay, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Edward Tyler Nahem, Slava Smolokowski, Chip Meyrelles/Ken Greiner, Douglas G. Smith, Steve Semlitz/Cathy Glazer, Daryl Roth/True Love Productions, Susan Dietz/Mort Swinsky, Knitting Factory Entertainment and with Ahmir ‘Questlove’ Thompson.
If you missed out last year, FELA! returns to the UK for a summer run at Sadler’s Wells (July 20th - August 28th, 2011).
