Dancer and AMA grantee Maria Tembe is currently in Cape Town, South Africa, as a participant in this year’s Unmute ArtsAbility Festival (24 November – 3 December)
Maria Tembe is a professional contemporary dance artist based in Maputo, Mozambique. She was trained in dance at Culturarte, a contemporary dance company in Mozambique. Her first performance was in the project (In) Dependence, a dance project that grouped people with and without physical disability. This project was guided by the choreographer Panaibra Canda from Culturarte: his objective was the integration of people with physical disabilities to discover “how a body with limitations and another without physical limitations can together develop a vocabulary in order to communicate together and to the Word.” As a member of Culturarte, she has participated in various projects and creations presented in different cities around the world.
The UnMute ArtsAbility Festival is South Africa’s premier Integrated Arts Platform. Now in its 5th year, it will present a display of collaborative artistic works by artists with mixed-abilities (with and without disabilities) and from mixed genres (music, dance, drama, visual art, etc.). There, Maria will have the opportunity to pursue a collaborative dance project with Malagasy dancer and choreographer Lovatiana Rakatobe. They will be exploring their common experiences as women and dancers as well as the nuanced differences in perceptions, feelings, customs and culture that distinguish them.
We wish Maria a very fruitful stay in Cape Town and safe travels home!
Photo credit: Festival Theaterformen
