“We dance when we are SAD: We dance when we are HAPPY,
We dance with every air in our lungs: We dance through life,
We dance for the love of dance: Driven by passion,
Brought together by our differences:
Seeking for fresh air”
Tuesday, 2 February saw the opening of the play “Harambe,” which then ran once a day until the grand finale on 6 February. The play was produced and directed by Angelo Mockie, currently in his honours year for BA Drama, and Godfrey Manenye, a lecturer in the Drama faculty. Harambe was close to the heart of both the cast and the audience as it inspired the ideal of ‘togetherness’ within them.
“We started this dance movement last year, with an aim to keep students busy and also aid a helping hand in the growth of the media faculty, which you will agree with me on the fact that it’s not very well known by students and the South African media world, it all developed into us coming together with expectations, to see not just to look, to listen not to hear, to learn from one another and to embrace our different cultural backgrounds and therefore produce Harambe,” says Mockie.
The word “Harambe” originates from Swahili and means togetherness. The play is aimed at enlightening the world and portrays the fact that obstacles - such as aggression, culture and religion, as well as status and position – can be overcome if we just feel and listen to the music and movement of our souls.
The nights of the play saw students from different faculties on campus coming together regardless of their skin colour or racial backgrounds. As one they performed a play that explored the lives of two first year students, one black and the other white. The two students share a room in the university where they struggle to get along with one another. However, as time progresses the art of music and dance teach them to respect and appreciate each other’s differences.
One other aspect that made the play so exciting - besides being full of fun- was seeing a spice of romance put in the play as we saw a black girl getting close and falling in love with a white guy. It also involved such an interesting variety of a lot of truly magnificent sounds from Celine Deon, Michael Jackson’s famous Black and White, the Black Eyed Peas and many other songs. All these were acted and danced to with so much passion and talent that many people were touched and just wished the show could keep on going.
When asked about feedback and plans for the future, Godfrey indicated that the feedback they were getting was 100% positive and very inspiring, but he also mentioned that they do have a few challenges such as students not knowing about the drama department. He also said that they have a lot of plans for the future, but lack space to carry them out. Another fact that worried him was the dominance of Afrikaans productions over English productions in the department, which leads to the imbalance of good English projects from the department. Harambe gets 4 out of 5 stars from me.
In an interview with Yolanda Mzozoyana, a dancer in the play; this is what she had to say for herself:
SM: First, let me congratulate you on a wonderful performance you guys pulled, it was breath-taking!
YM: Thank you, I m glad you liked it.
SM: Now Yolanda, please tell us about yourself and what course you are studying and how you ended up taking part in the play?
YM: I am all the way from KZN, but I stay in Huis Soetdoring, doing my second year in Geology. We actually started dancing last year and we were doing it for fun.
SM: Did you, prior this, have any dancing experience?
YM : Nope, none at all!
SM: I could’ve sworn you’ve done this before, The play looked all so professional and well organised, when did you guys find the time to practise, I mean, didn’t it take most of your school work time?
YM: All thanks to hard work and a great team. We started practising late last year and again had to come back early after the holidays. We worked around each other’s timetables, so it didn’t take too much of my school time and even the time it took, it was worth it.
SM: The diversity of colour in the play, what can you say about that, and from your personal point of view, how did you find working with people from different cultures and colours like?
YM: The diversity of colour in the play is a true reflection of the different groups that we have here at varsity, it was a learning experience and I enjoyed it.
SM: Do you think people got the message behind the whole dance and music, was it educative at all?
YM: Definitely, people got the message because the feedback we are getting is very positive.
SM: True, How was the whole experience for you and do you see yourself doing anything of that sort ever again?
YM: I loved it, because I was taken out of my comfort zone and also grew as a person, I definitely see myself doing something like this again and it will be bigger and better.
By Stephen Moleli |