And So You See… Our Honorable Blue Sky and Ever Enduring Sun… Can Only Be Consumed Slice by Slice…
Exuberant, baroque an entertaining, And So You See… is both scathing and enthralling. A jubilant purge, a reinvention of Africa’s relationship with the West.
The tale of an emancipated body, sensual and voracious, a body tempted by sin. Flaunting his voluptuous flesh in a pagan ceremony set to Mozart’s Requiem, the young and exuberantly charismatic South African dancer and healer Albert Khoza proves to be a worthy spiritual son of the choreographer Robyn Orlin. Together they shatter taboos, prejudices and boundaries, celebrating unfettered humanity.
War dances, orgies, bondage, boogie with a dash of Vladimir Putin and other ostentations hurtle forth in this extraordinary solo, an unorthodox take on the seven deadly sins. Khoza becomes a diva, a dictator, a sensualist. In his chrysalis of cellophane, appearing on screen or with his back to the audience, he inverts the colonialist balance of power as he imparts ancestral traditions and hope for modernity. In flamboyant, sunny and caustic fashion, the piece hijacks classical culture to promote multiple identities. A jubilant purge, a reinvention of Africa’s relationship with the West.
Produced by Robyn Orlin / City Theater & Dance Group
Performed by Albert Silindokuhle Ibokwe Khoza
Costume Design Marianne Fassler
Lighting Design Laïs Foulc
Stage manager Thabo Pule
Administration and Production Damien Valette
Assistant and Coordinator Marion Paul
Co-produced by Damien Valette Prod (Paris) + Festival Montpellier Danse + Festival d’Automne à Paris + Kinneksbond – Centre Culturel Mamer + Centre Dramatique National de Haute-Normandie-Rouen + la Ferme du Buisson – scène nationale de Marne-la-Vallée
Acknowledgements to Philippe Lainé + Léopard Frock
Written by Elsa Pépin
Translated by Neil Kroetsch
Premiered at Montpellier Danse, on June 30, 2016
Robyn Orlin (Johannesburg)
City Theater & Dance Group
The tale of an emancipated body, sensual and voracious, a body tempted by sin. Flaunting his voluptuous flesh in a pagan ceremony set to Mozart’s Requiem, the young and exuberantly charismatic South African dancer and healer Albert Khoza proves to be a worthy spiritual son of the choreographer Robyn Orlin.
