Durban - Pietermaritzburg dancer, choreographer and teacher Tegan Peacock will perform her acclaimed short work Paraphanalia of Suffering at the St Anne's Theatre next week as part of her residency programme with the school's form four pupils.
The inspiration behind Pietermaritzburg's ReRouted Dance Theatre and a dancer in residence at Durban's Jomba, Peacock performed in Otherwise at last year's Jomba with Marcel Gbeffa. She also performed at the Belluard festival in Fribourg Switzerland in 2017 and is remembered for her performance with Bonwa Mbontsi in visual artist Kristin Ng-Yang's multi-media Bird/Fish at the Hilton festival in 2016.
In Paraphanalia of Suffering, she explores the driving forces behind the economic rat race we find ourselves living in. In a 20-minute work combining contemporary dance and structured improvisation and using 30 shopping baskets, she looks at why we choose to ‘buy’, what we are conditioned to want, and what we actually need. She examines how much of our worth as human beings is determined by how much we spend, and how much paraphernalia we accumulate.
The Form 4 residency programme aims to give pupils taking dramatic arts as a matric subject practical skills and tools that they can use all the way through their three years of study. Peacock and professional dancer and choreographer Ashleigh Joubert will lead the girls in the week-long residency with a specific focus on physical performance. The girls will attend four hour-long classes a day, for five days, culminating in a work-in-progress performance to showcase some of what they have learned and created. This will follow Peacock's performance.
Peacock will perform her work Paraphernalia of Suffering at The Theatre – St Anne’s College on February 2 at 7pm. It will be followed by a work in progress performance by the Form 4 dramatic arts students at 7.45pm. Entrance is free. To book call 033 343 6100 or [email protected]
The Independent on Saturday