Residencies

• 06.05 > 18.05.2024

On 12 July 2022, NASA publis­hed ima­ges from the James Webb Telescope of galaxies over 10 bil­li­on light years away. While our abi­li­ty to cap­tu­re the light of ancient galaxies pro­pels us clo­ser to an idea of futu­ri­ty, it also ser­ves as a remin­der that per­haps we are not as far along as we think. Collaborating again for this new cre­a­ti­on, South African col­lec­ti­ve Impilo Mapantsula and Jeremy Nedd dig dee­per into topics that navi­ga­te entang­led ave­nues of Black dias­po­ric and Afrofuturist expe­rien­ce. They pre­sent their explo­ra­ti­on through the lens of Pantsula. This powerful dan­ce form, well known for its high-speed vir­tu­o­sic foot­work, gave voi­ce to an enti­re gene­ra­ti­on during Apartheid. Focusing on the impro­vi­sa­ti­o­nal poten­ti­al of Pantsula’s move­ment voca­bu­la­ry in res­pon­se to the cos­mic and spi­ri­tu­al jazz of Alice Coltrane and Bheki Mseleku, the per­for­man­ce draws on phe­no­me­na found in the cos­mos as metap­ho­ric inspi­ra­ti­on: from the birth of a galaxy to the death of a star. Connecting the powerful and lyri­cal jive sty­le of today’s Pantsula whi­le echo­ing ​“past” strug­gles against oppres­si­on, the per­for­mers con­tem­pla­te the com­pres­si­on of spa­ce and time, and our illu­si­ons of pro­gress towards the future.