I finished the choreography and performed it in Senegal and a met artists from Canada (Sashar Zarif) and Moroccans that gave us interesting feedbacks about Mirage during the residency. I assisted Hind for her piece VOI in Senegal and will be travelling with her in Lebanon in September 2010. I got new deals with dance schools directors to teach one of the south African dances. Those 3 months in Morocco were intense and i have learned a lot about myself as a dancer but also as a teacher. My difficulty was communication, but I solved it by looking at bodies expressions of Moroccans and by improving my French. The problem was the visa when I had to go back from Senegal to morocco and thanks to Hind and her connexions in Morocco, I was able to get an authorisation to ask a new visa from Dakar (south African must apply for a Moroccan visa from south Africa and can get only a visa with one entrance to morocco…) Then I have been very disappointed by the cancellation of the creation that we were supposed to make for actors in Meknes due to budget of the delegation of Meknes, but that month had been used to work more in mirage in Casablanca. The other problem was to travel long distances in Senegal by car (Saint Louis to Dakar: 6 hours) and when we arrived at the hotel in Dakar rooms were not booked and we had to change the hotel and had to travel on a heavy traffic to go to the next hotel… The performance was the same day and we couldn’t plot the light during the day because the stage is outside but hopefully the technician was great and fast and we reduced risks by cancelling some effect. To return to South Africa before the date due to funeral arrangement. Continue doing collaboration projects and also performances as I have discovered a lot of networks, knowledge and growth within my technique. I’m still developing the idea of a collaboration festival and residency with ACTION DANSE (of compagnie Fleur d’Orange) which will be based in South Africa in order to expand the development and to improve more African network.
Grant Year : 2009
Profile :
Gender :
Mobility project
It was a fruitful collaboration project between South Africa and Morocco; This included the completion of mirage dance piece in a residency and performances in morocco and Senegal. Giving workshops to teenagers and children and also choreographing performances for the closing of dance school in Rabat. I got invitations to be jury for dance school exams and for the actors’ competition in Meknes.
Session
Type of Project
Departure : Johannesburg, South Africa
Destination : Casablanca, Rabat and Meknes, Morocco (North Africa)