Dance, music, art and film have been lined up by the French Institute of South Africa to showcase African artists during the World Cup year.
THIS year is a special one for South Africans and Africa as a whole, with the world's biggest football showcase coming to the continent for the first time.
"The 2010 World Cup is coming to South Africa and to help showcase the continent's rich cultural history, we have put together a cultural programme for people to enjoy," said Laurent Clavel, the director and cultural attaché at the French Institute of South Africa (IFAS).
Laurent Clavel, the director and cultural attaché at the French Institute of South Africa
He was speaking at the announcement of the programmes that the institute has put together for 2010, at the Circa on Jellicoe in Rosebank on Thursday, 11 February. Clavel said IFAS-Culture, the cultural agency of the French Embassy in South Africa, was partnering with a host of South African and African artists on the "very impressive" cultural programme.
"We are pleased that the French Institute is partnering with South African artists. The aim is to bring Africa to South Africa and South Africa to Africa, and France to Africa."
Activities will take place in South Africa, Lesotho, Swaziland, Namibia and Angola, spilling to France. However, most of the shows will be taking place in South Africa and, hopefully, will be enjoyed by French football fans here for the soccer.
France's World Cup group pits them against Bafana Bafana, Mexico and Uruguay.
Film
Starting this month, the first item on the programme was an open-air screening of a "very, very naughty" Valentine's Day film called The Realm of the Senses at Alliance Française of Johannesburg Cinema, Clavel said.
The Nagisa Oshima French-Japanese production, based on a true incident depicting a man and a woman consumed by a transcendent, destructive love, will be screened at Alliance Française, in Parkview, at 7pm on 13 February. Entrance is strictly adult only as the film contains highly explicit content.
From 5 to 7 March, a dance production called Konexion by Wanted Posse will be at the Market Theatre in Newtown. The production fuses a variety of dances, including gumboot, house, pansula, hip hop and kwaito. Konexion will be presented as part of the FNB Dance Umbrella and illustrates the result of a dialogue between cultures, a conversation where everyone has something to say and a gesture to share.
Nelisiwe Xaba's Black! ... White? dance is also part of the cultural programme. Taking place at the Market Theatre from 2 to 4 March, Black! ... White? explores the themes of racial and social stereotypes and how these distort people's perceptions of one another.
The socio-economic climate of present-day South Africa is the setting for the narrative, keeping in mind that stereotypes and discrimination are not exclusively South African phenomena, but are universal.
Dance
The journeys and spirits of the Khoi-San people are the thrust of the dance SAN by Vincent Mantsoe. Showing for two days only at the Market Theatre, from 2 to 3 March, SAN focuses on the life of the Khoi-San, who describe themselves as travellers, hunters and the products of a small seed - a seed that wants to spread itself like the wild sea.
Mantsoe combines traditional African dance with contemporary, Aboriginal, Asian and ballet influences in a cross-cultural Afro-fusion style.
The interactive dance piece called Faux Ciels (Fake Skies)
Reunion Island-based choreographer Eric Languet will present an interactive dance piece called Faux Ciels (Fake Skies) at the Market Theatre from 12 to 13 March. Faux Ciels looks at what can and cannot be said through dance and explores the borders between dancers and the audience in an intimate space.
During each show, three female dancers will perform a contemporary dance solo each to one person at a time. A maximum of 10 people will be allowed per evening performance and one person will attend a session.
The International Day of Francophone 2010 will be celebrated in Johannesburg with a jam-packed programme showcasing local and Francophone artists, with music, dance, fashion and visual art on offer.
Music
Taking place on 28 March at Alliance Française, performers are City Kay, a reggae outfit; Bhojola, a Swazi musician; Cameroonian singer Kareyce; the Alexandra Brass Band and hip hop dance groups. In addition, a young South African designer, Black Pepper, will present a fashion show and Eric Miyeni's photo exhibition will sign off the day's entertainment.
Then Bhojola and Kareyce will perform at the Bassline in Newtown in the fourth Afrophonie gig. The two promising artists will share the stage on 23 April with South African musicians, although names still need to be confirmed.
From May to July, through the World Cup, the Goodman Gallery will host In Context, a series of exhibitions, installations, performances and interventions in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
In Context brings artists working in a variety of media into a series of conversations and engagements with an extraordinary historical context - the World Cup in South Africa - and with an audience not only of art lovers and artists but students and the general public.
Amelie Debray's spectator, an exhibition of photographs
The series will be held at the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Apartheid Museum, the Goodman Gallery's Project Space at Arts on Main and outdoor venues such as Joubert Park, the streets of Soweto and downtown Johannesburg. In addition to the exhibitions, screenings and performances, In Context will feature public debates, walkabouts, artist's talks and discussions at various venues.
Wits Theatre will host the Paris/Joburg Aller-Retour project, a collaboration between French percussionist and composer Braka and South African brass player Carlo Mombelli. The idea is to have the same repertoire first played by two different quartets, one in France and one in South Africa, and then have both quartets fuse their musical styles, representative of Valse Musette from Paris in the 1950s, and 1960s African jazz from Johannesburg.
Workshop
A workshop that will bring together young professional choreographers, composers, dancers and lighting designers from around the world will take place the Newtown Dance Corner in Johannesburg.
Called Crossings, the workshop will take place from 26 July to 8 August. Participating young international artists will collaborate to show a 12-minute artistic creation on the stage of the Dance Factory at the end of the workshop.
Besides the shows in Johannesburg, IFAS has also organised some events in Paris, in France; Maseru, in Lesotho; Mbabane, in Swaziland; Windhoek, in Namibia; Gaborone, in Botswana; and Luanda, in Angola.
Clavel said two projects had also been organised for Africa Day, on 25 May, which would also showcase French and African culture.
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