implicit art

Woops. "Dancing Alone," by Matthew Krouse, in this
week’s Mail & Guardian
(South Africa) names phenomenomadic
as a "particularly grudging satire" where actors "did unkind
portrayals of successful [South African] choreographers." To be honest,
I can’t argue with him. Jeanette and I had very different ideas about the aesthetic
of this piece. We initially conceptualized phenomenomadic
as a careful deconstruction of dance identity in SA, and not a comedy at all.
When Jeanette started choreographing, workshopping and, by default, directing,
she chose to show what Krouse calls, "gaping wounds in the [SA] dance community,
unhealed, that have left choreographers feeling unrecognised." I had to
let her, and the actors, run with it, unapologetic. I sincerely hope it does
not put a smudge on either of our own SA identities, as artists with a grudge.