On Stage: Kiridi/Cinderella

We most often think of Cinderella as a blonde, blue-eyed heroine who overcomes difficult circumstances to meet her perfect prince and live in a castle happily ever after. That’s the Disney model. But in Europe, which spawned our images, there are actually 500 different versions.

And the iconic fairy tale goes back further than that, with versions in Greece (Rhodopis), China (Ye Xian), Vietnam (Tám Cám) and many others. More recently the 1990’s brought some twists of fate, with James Finn Garner’s politically-correct, slightly feminist essay and a new diverse interpretation of Richard Roger’s magical Broadway musical, starring Brandy and Whitney Houston.

Cinderella, it turns out that we hardly knew ye.

Things differ more when Cinderella comes out of Africa, including Chinye, from West Africa and Nyasha, a folk tale from Zimbabwe. At the recent Black River African Dance Conference, “Mama” Kadiatou Conte-Forte staged Kiridi for her Balafon West African Dance Ensemble and guest artists at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.

This version is inspired by a Republic of Guinea custom where a man can not only have several wives, but father a baby out of wedlock and bring it back to be raised in his home. So here Kiridi is an orphan who is abused by her evil stepmother and jealous sister. Her father loves her, but doesn’t stand up against his wife. While working one day, Kiridi meets a man who steals her heart through “the gift of dancing and acts of bravery.”

But the stepmother forbids both love and dance for Kiridi. So she sends the girl to the Khoumba Wali, a sacred forest where death lurks and spirits sleep, to retrieve something from the Great Spirit.

It is a dangerous journey, but the kind Kiridi befriends an old woman along the way, who is really the Great Spirit in disguise. She protects the young orphan both in the forest and when she returns home.

Not all of the theatrical transitions were apparent in this production, so the dramatic episodes and characters within them tended to wander and the script, delivered in four languages — English, French, Soussou and Malie — was not always clear. Perhaps given a larger budget, there could be projected subtitles, similar to those used in opera.

The story itself served as a loose framework for a celebration of dance and music, which were whole-heartedly exuberant. Balafon has never looked better, with numbers that ranged from Mane, a Soussou rhythm/dance to Soko, a Malinki rhythm. and Balanta, a warriors’ dance.

And kudos to “Mama,” obviously a beloved figure in the community, for taking on the role of the evil stepmother with such commitment and power. They were all backed by a powerful 15-member drum ensemble, which added to the excitement and energy that permeated the audience.

And when they all came together at the end, everyone freely expressing themselves through dance and drum, it was hard not to surrender.

 

 

 

On Stage: Nora!

Nora Chipaumire made a welcome return to Pittsburgh with her latest piece, Miriam, based on the South African singer and activist. But it was so much more, which you can read about in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. An added kudo to her behind-the-scenes collaborators director Eric ting, composer Omar Sosa, lighting designer Olivier Clausse and scenic design by Olivie and Hecho Mano — all magnificent (the word for this production) as well.

And a small slice of what made songstress Miriam Makeba great, one early example, one later after she began to assert her womanly power.

On Stage: A (glowing) Dance

A woman slowly tiptoes into view, arms akimbo. A man crouches behind her, looking for something — we know not what. We hear the sound of a bell and the sound that a bubble might make. There’s a squeak.

The initial sensory deprivation of Kota Yamazaki’s new work, (glowing), seemed to soften the focus. But he would gradually expand his world at the New Hazlett Theater, part of the Andy Warhol Museum’s Off the Wall series.

Mr. Yamazaki opted to embrace a style of movement from half way around the globe. Certainly this writer never imagined that she would view a performance that paired Japanese butoh with African dance.

Butoh conveys the nature of its subject matter, becomes its essence. African dance, on the other hand, is historically performed in exotic natural surroundings, but is centered around celebration and rituals.

Where African dance begins with the beat and weaves intricate rhythms, butoh simply exists and is performed with a musical cyclorama that surrounds it.

Oh, what connections to be made!

The starting point was Junichiro Tanizaki’s essay, In Praise of Shadows.  In it, Mr. Tanizaki praises elements of traditional beauty to be found in architecture and all that it encompasses such as fittings, jade, food and other subjects. But these were seen in a half-light before the invention of modern lighting systems.

Mr. Tanizaki kept that probing idea and transported it to a contemporary stage with a nuanced lighting design by Kathy Kaufmann. The company, called Fluid Hug-hug, was composed of six dancers moving in Mr. Tanizaki’s own style, which he named Fluid Technique.

For the most part, this meant slowing the movement to a flicker or a ripple through the body and most eloquently through the fingertips. But there were off-kilter walks and lurching in a circle and a jiggling foot.

The interaction of subtle phrases created quite lovely landscapes with an improvisatory feel, although one woman erupted into her own African dance, leaping to her own internal rhythms. It was mesmerizing at its best, although (glowing) was content for a time to simply glow instead of grow.

At the end the performers took hanging beams that served as mobile set pieces, designed by American architect Robert Kocik, and dismantled them. The dancers placed them like pylons around the space, hinting at a building and with the movement still creating a sustainable connection in our memory.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Stage: Africa — Wave of the Future

The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater recently presented Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project, which I reviewed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The company’s thick personal ties to Africa reminded me of August Wilson Center’s “first” First Voice a few years ago at the New Hazlett Theater, which had a rich dance substance from Zimbabwe’s Nora Chipaumire, Washington D.C.‘s Step Afrika and Pittsburgh’s Kyle Abraham, Staycee Pearl and (then) Greer Reed. It also presented “Movement (R)evolution,” an acclaimed documentary heralding contemporary dance in Africa. Here are some Youtube clips of that film.