Review: Zip Zap’s astonishing MOYA Live– on stage- at NAF 2022

Review: Zip Zap’s astonishing MOYA Live– on stage- at NAF 2022- and one livestream beamed from NAF

In February 2022, Zip Zap Circus staged MOYA- Live in the Zip Zap Dome, at the Artscape precinct, Cape Town Foreshore. The season ran February 24-26. MOYA – the stage show- was the live expression of MOYA- the acrobatic art film- which Zip Zap streamed online. I was moved by the film, MOYA, immersed in its use of circus art, song and images. It made me gasp in wonder. Watching MOYA, the stage show, live in the Dome, February 2022, I was transfixed. I had expected it to be a stage version of the film but it is a highly considered theatrical circus stage show, in its own right. I decided to hold back on a review of MOYA Live, until a time when Zip Zap would be staging MOYA– again. Here we are June, 2022 and Zip Zap is presenting MOYA – live on stage at NAF 2022.  The dates of the performances are in the box, above. There is also a livestream, being beamed, from NAF, on June 26. Note- there are two different booking links – on stage at NAF- June 24, 25 and 26 and the livestream of the 6pm show on June 26 (livestream starts just before 6pm).

MOYA – the film – was conceived in lockdown when Zip Zap could not play to audiences and conveyed a vivid sense of conversation between the company and its insights into the spirit of Ubuntu, land, living in South Africa, striving for excellence, striving to live another day and fly. The beautiful choreography was offset by a powerful rap poem by Zip Zap’s Jason Barnard and an emotional soundtrack, rooted in the African continent. [See: https://thecaperobyn.co.za/film-review-zip-zaps-moya-premiering-online-april-2021/]

The stage show, MOYA differs significantly in terms of cast. There were three women in the film – Jade Palmer, Isobel Rossouw and Jemma-Rose Nelson. These artists are long lifers in Zip Zap. They went on to further their studies and were not available for the stage production. Cape Town raised, Bridgette Berning joined Zip Zap at the end of 2020 and she is in MOYA – the stage show. She forms a vital hinge in the stage MOYA– lifted and lifting- and performing extraordinary feats. She is also an amazing dancer. The choreography in the stage show (as in the film) is astounding. The choreographic team for the live show: Silumko Ndulula, Brin Schoellkopf, Samuel Renaud, Sabine van Rensburg, Trio Wise Fools and Adele Blank. Not only, do the artists nail the circus arts – silks, aerial, juggling, tumbling, pyramids, wheeling, flying, spinning etc– but they use movement and their bodies to convey emotion. The dance was evident on the film but on stage, it is off the charts. On stage, there is the thrill that they could fall at any stage, whereas in a film, of course, that could be edited out. The entire company is a brilliant – in keeping the balance – and working together. Get to #NAF2022 to see this stunning show.

✳ Featured image – MOYA – LIVE- February 2022 season in the Zip Zap Dome, Cape Town. Photo: Joan Ward.