Arts and culture focus-school matriculants with nowhere to go grab a lifeline from their former teacher, the acclaimed choreographer S’bonakaliso Ndaba writes DEBBIE HATHWAY
THIS time last year 13 arts and culture focus-school matriculants without jobs or the means for further study found themselves once again under the wing of their former part-time teacher and acclaimed choreographer S’bonakaliso Ndaba at the Eoan Group’s Athlone studios. Now they’re preparing for their first full-length production, Inkundla, which will form part of Artscape Theatre’s month-long Heritage Festival.
It’s a journey driven largely by Ndaba’s passion for people. “My mission is not about dance – it’s what I was born with and what I do best, but my mission is helping people,” she says. “There’s nothing that makes me happier than seeing somebody succeed.”
Ndaba, who had helped them achieve the Western Cape Education Department’s Grade 12 standard for dance, had learnt of the students’ plight and decided to take them in hand. “They have to have somewhere to go... to progress their arts studies if they can’t afford tertiary education. Most of these kids struggle just to cover the cost of transport and food.”
In between gigs, Ndaba is not much better off. Like many South African artists, despite having achieved international acclaim for her particular take on African and contemporary dance, and having accolades like the prestigious DaimlerChrysler Choreography Award behind her name, earning a living is challenging. For the past year, she has trained these artists for free, teaching them the nuances of her craft and educating them about life, so that they will be able to “earn the money and have a family and be good parents”.
Ndaba’s dedication has paid off. As of January 2015, she became the proud cofounder of the Indoni Dance, Arts and Leadership Academy, formed to provide “high-quality, value-laden, post-school professional training to youngsters who lack parental guidance and financial support, and who wish to pursue a career in dance and integrated arts.” Each student has an individual sponsor for that much-needed food and transport subsistence, studio rental at the Masikanye Centre in Gugulethu is covered and Ndaba will have income for a year from an anonymous donor. “Now I can stop worrying about rent and concentrate on my work. My head is full of ideas again,” she says.
With a committed, supportive board of directors underpinning Ndaba’s vision to expand higher education opportunities for learners from poor and marginalised communities and provide access to scarce skills and knowledge required for employment and economic participation in the arts field, Indoni is on an upward trajectory. Literally and figuratively. Those who saw them perform during Jazzart Dance Theatre’s recent Azishe! will understand the reference – it wasn’t just the height of their jumps, their lofty support of each other as they flew through their air, their fingers pointing upwards from outstretched arms; it was somehow a soaring of souls.
“I was a fixer at the focus schools,” says Ndaba. “I would be called in to help the dancers and the teachers. I built love, actually.” Having what she calls “a difficult body”, lacking a natural turnout or beautifully arched feet, she knows how to get the best out of others who may experience similar challenges.
Ndaba began her dance career with Phenduka Dance Theatre in Durban in 1989, before joining Jazzart Dance Theatre as a performer, dancer and teacher from 1994 until 2001 under Alfred Hinkel in Cape Town. She returned to Durban to re-establish Phenduka as artistic director for six years. She has since choreographed for a number of companies including NUCrossroads Dance Company (UK), Barking Gecko Theatre Company (Australia) and Introdans (Netherlands) and locally for Flatfoot Dance Company, Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company, Jazzart Dance Theatre, Moving into Dance Mophatong and Cape Town Opera.
Ndaba’s goal now is to expose her group to as many performance platforms as possible. “You can’t teach people how to perform or to take ownership of the stage. That comes with experience,” she says. Dancers have to learn how to talk to the audience through their body by first understanding what it is they want to say and why their public should listen.
The Indoni Academy dancers perform Inkundla at the Artscape Arena Theatre from August 27 to 30. Inkundla means “the place or platform where public life happens, where people seek other people. It is the place where social, cultural and political life is played out... where people engage, communicate, seek recognition, power, status, love or sometimes revenge. It is the place of memories and where people explore their understanding of inkululeko (freedom).”
l Tickets: R80, 0861 915 8000.