On Fire – The invention of Tradition

A production by Constanza Macras / Dorkypark in collaboration with Ayana V Jackson. A co-production with Dance Umbrella South Africa. Funded by Kulturstiftung des Bundes and Senatskanzlei für Kulturelle Angelegenheiten – der Regierende Bürgermeister Berlin and with friendly support of Rudolf Augstein Stiftung, Goethe Institut Südafrika, Dance Forum Johannesburg and Momo Gallery.

DESCRIPTION

On Fire, a new piece by Constanza Macras, deals with the re-evaluation of heritage and tradition in relation to segregated cultural groups, which are being articulated in new ways in urban life – and with self-defined contemporary practices and rituals. The piece wishes to reflect on postcolonial / post – apartheid ongoing power struggles and the artistic deconstructions of colonial / patriarchal imageries of “the other“. Macras works with a mixed cast of South African and Berlin-based performers in collaboration with the Johannesburg-based artist Ayana V. Jackson, whose photography interrogates and deconstructs other aspects of a specific chapter that we might add to the history of “invented traditions”: the visual representation of the “other” in historical and journalistic photography.

PHOTOS

PREMIERE

26. & 27. FEB 2015 / 19h00
DANCE UMBRELLA FESTIVAL
(Dance Factory, Cnr. Jeppe & President St,
Newtown, Johannesburg, 2001, South Africa)

CAST AND CREW

Choreography & Director: Constanza Macras

By & With: Louis Becker, Emil Bordás, Lucky Kele, Jelena Kuljic, Diile Lebeko, Mandla Mathonsi, Thulani Mgidi, Melusi Mkhwanjana, Felix Saalmann, Fana Tshabalala, John Sithole

Dramaturgy: Carmen Mehnert
Visual Artist: Ayana V. Jackson
Video Design: Dean Hutton
Costume Design: Constanza Macras
Costume Assistant: Noluthando Lobese
Assistant Director: Nikoletta Fischer
Sound Design: Jelena Kuljic / Abigail Thatcher
Lighting Design: Catalina Fernandez
Technical Direction: Abigail Thatcher

Production Management (Johannesburg): Nhlanhla Mahlangu
Production Management (Berlin): Katharina Wallisch
Production Office: René Dombrowski
International Relations: Rui Silveira
Tour Management: Ricardo Frayha