Dance announcement: Dance Intersect 2023- exciting dance platform in Cape Town – with public performances in May

Dance announcement: Dance Intersect 2023- launch of exciting dance platform in Cape Town- presented by ACDC (Anderson Carvalho Dance & Choreography) – featuring two works by ACDC and three works by guest companies- May 18, 19, 20, 2023

Last year May [2022], I was privileged to attend an evening of dance-theatre at The Joseph Stone Auditorium in Cape Town, presented by Brazilian-Dutch choreographer Anderson Carvalho, of ACDC (Anderson Carvalho Dance & Choreography). ACDC presented an exciting new dance-theatre work, When I Left The Room. Scroll down for the link to my review *. This dance-theatre piece was the culmination of a dance-theatre lab and choreographic research project that Anderson facilitated, in the lead up to the public presentation of When I Left the Room. The internationally acclaimed Carvalho, pledged that the 2022 project was the start of a collaboration between his company, ACDC and other companies and choreographers in South Africa and elsewhere. He envisaged the creation of a dance platform, to present the work of ACDC and the work by guest companies and artists – providing an opportunity for intersection across companies, across countries and dance-theatre approaches. The concept: A season of three evening performances, in a different country within a different context. And here, we are in 2023 and ACDC is presenting the inaugural Dance Intersect, in Cape Town.  Last year, there was considerable disappointment by those who missed the public shows of When I Left The Room. People said: “Oh, wish we had known. We would have taken our dance students. We would have loved to have been part of workshops”. The 2022 ACDC season was short and yes, for 2023, there are only three public shows for Dance Intersect. There is a small window of opportunity to attend, so this goes out, well ahead of time.

Yes, Carvalho welcomes collaborations. The vision is to host Dance Intersect on the African continent and in Europe, USA and elsewhere and engage companies and choreographers in creating dance and being at the exciting interface of the intersection across dance approaches by creatives around the globe. Context shifts how performance is received and viewed. Audiences bring their gaze to watch and the interaction between the audience and dancers generates a vital conversation. This is why ACDC is committed to rolling out Dance intersect in different countries and spaces and involving guest choreographers and companies. For now, we have the inaugural Dance Intersect in Cape Town – May 18, 19, 20, 2023 and the premiere of ACDC’s new dance theatre piece, The Intimacy of Skin. Skin is the largest organ in the body and reverberates in manifold directions, particularly in South Africa and our Apartheid history of racially classifying people according to skin colour. Skin evokes touch, connection, comfort, pain and a lot more. Review link – When I Left The Room: https://thecaperobyn.co.za/review-when-i-left-the-room-lingering-images-of-cohesion-and-estrangement/

The performance iteration of Dance Intersect at the Joseph Stone Auditorium in May 2023, is made of three shows- two are open to the public. The shows are on May 18, 19, and 20. May 18 is by invite, only. The programme will feature When I Left The Room and a new work by ACDC, The Intimacy of the Skin. It is premiering at Dance Intersect. The Intimacy of Skin has been devised and workshopped by ACDC with a talented cohort of six dancers, selected from an open-call audition.  The May 2023 performance schedule of Dance Intersect, will also feature work by three guest artists/companies – Elvis Sibeko of Elvis Sibeko Studios, the EOAN Group and SboNdaba Dance. 

In tandem with the public performances, over a four month period, February, March, April, May, 2023, ACDC is facilitating a research and choreographic laboratory, working with the six dancers, to create The Intimacy of the Skin. What we see on the stage, represents a fragment of a body of work, an intersection of multi-national creatives, working in a four-month residency in Cape Town.

We must mention that The Joseph Stone Auditorium, a Cape Town heritage venue (opened in 1969), has undergone a renovation in its foyer- which is stylish- with mosaic detailing. The carpark is fenced off and secure, ensuring safe off-street parking for patrons. The Joseph Stone is the home of the Eoan Group School of Performing Arts- which is performing on Dance Intersect 2023.

About creating Intimacy of the Skin

For The Intimacy of the Skin, ACDC sent out an open-call for artists to submit their tapes and motivate why they wanted to be part of creating a new dance theatre piece in a laboratory/movement journey. The dancers were not simply auditioning for a show but to be part of devising the work and contributing to the curatorial armature, laid out by Anderson Carvalho and he would provide creative/curatorial prompts to trigger memories, ideas, images. After a rigorous on-line audition process, with 74 applications, from all over world, six artists were selected. Working with the dancers, he triggered them to explore their memories, their bodies, their skins. For instance he asked: “What are your memories of growing up? What do you remember from when you were eight- a smell, a memory, an image? Who died in your family and what do you remember of the skin of yours next to that person?” The invitation was for the dancers to delve deep into their own memories and experiences.  Carvalho says: “The Intimacy of the Skin offers a fascinating exploration of the many ways in which our skin shapes our lives, experiences and our relationships with others.” Skin is emblematic of a lot – from the “sensory experiences of touch to the social and historical meanings of skin colour”. He encourages the audience to “reflect on the complex and multifaceted nature of our most visible and intimate organ”.

The process of shaping Intimacy of the Skin- choreographic puzzle

Anderson Carvalho works in partnership with Adam Claussen, a composer of film music. Adam composed the music for When I left the room in 2022 and has composed the music for Intimacy of the Skin in 2023. The soundscape for The Intimacy of the Skin intersects with images and memories. For instance, the dancers were asked by Carvalho: “Remember -go back to the sound of your room. Can you make a drawing?  Can you make music from it?  I need you to record your life. Make a drawing and record your environment. ” Carvalho told me: “I take everything and Adam Claussen uses these elements to create the music score”. The Intimacy of the Skin is very much a co-creation, devised with the dancers. Carvalho muses that the process has been like a “choreographic puzzle”. He adds: “It’s a shared process – finding a safe space to practice creative freedom. What shall we do today- this is what I put out on each day.” The Intimacy of the Skin is a piece of art which is shared, intimate and responsive to the dancers as they have moved through the rehearsal space at Ballet on Kloof. For instance, one of the dancers was walking with phone in pocket and that buzz buzz, was developed in terms of movement, image and music. It has been a co-creative process and cultural exchange- the intersection of motifs, ideas and images. Drawings made by the dancers will be screened onto panels on-stage and with the sound design, is integral to Intimacy of the Skin- all part of the “choreographic puzzle”. It has not been about setting dance to music but about interweaving movement, sounds/music and image. I watched the dancers in action and there are also scatterings of words, within the soundscape and music which provides additional insights for the viewer, watching and heightens the sense of watching stories of intimacies of skin as they spool out on stage. He says that he is like a choreography conductor. Carvalho: “I create a structure and see how it moves on the stage. I want to see how it moves – singular (individual dancer) and collective (the company).”

Igniting international collaborations

Integral to the vision for the inaugural Dance Intersect is vital multi-national collaboration, igniting conversations and dialogue on an ongoing basis. This has already been put into action. The first phase of The Intimacy of Skin was presented in January (2023), in Haarlem, at Studio MAPA (The Moving Academy for the Performing Arts). The initial conceptual development of The Intimacy of The Skin was shared.  Footage was screened. There was feedback and discussion, with mentoring by Ide Van Heiningen and performed by Guilherme Duarte. Van Heiningen is a Dutch mime, theatre maker, teacher and coach. Duarte is a dancer/choreographer and painter. Exciting! The presentation at MAPA has put Dance Intersect and The Intimacy of the Skin in the spotlight. Dance Intersect is on the international theatrical dance theatre map, which is fantastic.

❇ Sponsored content. Related coverage: When I Left The Room: https://thecaperobyn.co.za/review-when-i-left-the-room-lingering-images-of-cohesion-and-estrangement/