Ten Courses of Fish with Yandisa Mtsotso
BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT
It was a bright sunny winter day in the Western Cape. Eight of us drove an hour north of Cape Town to a little restaurant called Die Strandloper. “Restaurant” might not be the correct term: concrete tables on the sandy beach surrounded several fire pits. Utensils and drinks were B.Y.O. and table service consisted of simply announcing the next fish was ready. Among my eight fellow diners was a young man, Yandisa Mtsotso, who studies dance at the University of Cape Town. Eager to gain the perspective of a dancer in South Africa, I talked to Yandisa on the drive to the restaurant and during the meal. The result was a rich conversation amidst an even richer meal.
Course one: mussels
Leaving Cape Town, Yandisa pointed to a group of kids doing traditional African dance outside St. George’s cathedral. He said he started dancing in a similar group when he was nine or ten, performing traditional African dance styles including dances from the Zulu and Xhosa. He danced with this group until he entered high school, when he stopped dancing altogether.
In 2011 he joined the same traditional African dance group once again and it was around this time that he was introduced to contemporary dance. He said it was a revelatory moment for him. He felt he didn’t know as much about dance as he wanted to and craved more training, so from there he decided to prepare to enter the University of Cape Town to study dance. In 2012 he auditioned for the dance department and in 2013 he entered the University of Cape Town dance degree program, where he is now in his second year.
Course two: grilled haarders
Yandisa explained that during Apartheid the government funded ballet, so when Apartheid ended there was an attitude that ballet was the dance of the oppressor. As a result, ballet was cut from training programs on the basis that dancers must be trained in a new technique that was compliant with a wholly African identity.
However, modern dance and contemporary were still deemed “okay” in the new post-Apartheid climate. I found this very interesting given that Western forms of modern dance and contemporary grew out of ballet, and in many ways are reactionary to ballet.
Course three: fish curry
The University of Cape Town dance department has two emphases: African Dance or Ballet. Yandisa reported that students are roughly divided in half between the two; Yandisa himself is majoring in African Dance. The curriculum includes modern dance techniques like Graham, Duncan, Horton and Ailey. In addition students learn pedagogy, anatomy, musicology and history. The African dance training is based on a technique called Intsika, which is influenced by African tribal dances from as far away as Ghana and Kenya, and is a fusion with contemporary dance. The students in the African Dance emphasis also study ballet, hip hop, Russian and Spanish dances.
Course four: smoked angel fish
A problem, according to Yandisa, is that dancers and choreographers have to decide what African dance is. Traditional dances were created circumstantially (i.e. around hunting, birth or death). Now the prevailing influence is technology, and Yandisa felt that dances need to adapt accordingly. He told me: “African dance should be something continuous, not rigid. It doesn’t need to be sacred.”
Course five: roosterkoek
Unlike others who’ve dismissed ballet on the grounds that the Apartheid government funded it, Yandisa was very thoughtful in considering its worth as a training mechanism. He talked about how one can learn the ballet technique and then incorporate African dance. He saw ballet as a universal technique which choreographers could then build upon. He described watching videos online of various choreography and reflecting that world-class dancers understand technique and then build on it. Ballet can be evolved into its own style. Yandisa reflected that the problem with African dance is that it is hard to define. Unlike ballet, it is not codified. “African dance is just movement patterns that originated in Africa,” he said. “There is no such thing as pure African dance; just movement that comes from Africa. Africa would have been influenced by Western ideas even if Apartheid hadn’t happened. If African dance is going to be acknowledged broadly, it can’t be precious.”
Yandisa spoke of the need to eventually codify African dance, but felt that it was too early to go about such a task, as it has only been 20 years since democracy in South Africa.
Course six: white stumpnose
I asked Yandisa what kind of support dance received in South Africa, either in the way of popularity or government funding. He said dance is becoming very “in” and the government does what it can to support it financially. Nevertheless, he said dance suffered when the new government cut all funding for ballet. Now that ballet is becoming acceptable again, the dance scene in South Africa is growing. Professional dance companies exist in Johannesburg, Durban and Cape Town.
Course seven: lamb stew
When I asked Yandisa what his aspirations are, he told me he would like to dance for a choreographer who started a company called Vuyani Dance Company in Johannesburg. Artistic director Gregory Vuyani builds on his classical Western background but also draws on improvisation and African dance to create his work. In particular, he uses pantsula and gambo dance, which teaches coordination, stamina and musicality through the focus on the shuffle of feet and the making of sounds.
Course eight: snoek and sweet potatoes
I mentioned to Yandisa that I was in the middle of publishing a series of illustrations and interviews on the experience of being a male dancer, and was curious what attitudes were like toward male dancers in South Africa. Yandisa said that attitudes echo American sentiments in that it is commonly seen as gay or sissy for men to dance. However, this only holds true for ballet or contemporary/modern dance. African dance, on the other hand, is seen as being cool and masculine by popular standards.
Course nine: braaied crayfish
In addition to his training, Yandisa has begun choreographing in his classes. In his most recent piece at school he used both ballet-track and African-track dance students. He expressed his belief that in order for choreography to resonate, it has to be personal. He worries that as much as his people have powerful personal stories to tell through dance, they don’t have the means to tell them. This is why I think he wants a more codified African technique. He told me: “South Africa has stories that it needs to tell.”
I believe that with time Yandisa will be in a position to tell them.
Course ten: coffee and koeksisters for dessert
At the end of the day we dove back to Cape Town and dropped off Yandisa at his home in the township of Nyanga. We pulled up along an alley and he disappeared behind houses built of sheet metal.
I am excited about Yandisa. I am excited about his ideas regarding how Africa and traditional African dance find relevance in the international dance ecosystem. Yandisa is hungry for training and information; he recognizes the transcendent power of hard work and the necessity of education. I am excited to watch Yandisa hit the ground running, or perhaps I should say I’m excited to watch him hit the dance floor leaping.
Yandisa, our friend Antoinette and myself
Second photo courtesy Erna Smith