In post-apartheid South Africa, the genre of site-specific performance as a formalised practice has been adopted by local practitioner and artistic director to Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre50 Jay Pather. Pather's shift to site-specific dance theatre performance within post-apartheid South Africa emerged out of his need to engage performance, context and space as they interact and intersect and impact upon South African peoples:
Performance art practitioners have emerged within the South African context, but have not been as prominent as other alternative performance practitioners in this context.
49 Jay Pather has been a pivotal influence within the South African dance-scape. Through his political dance theatre and more recently his site-specific dance theatre works, he has offered the discipline of contemporary dance theatre as a collaborative tool for socio-political critique and exploration.
' Siwela Sonke in isiZulu means crossing over to a new place altogether. The Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre has developed a tradition of doing precisely this in its endeavour towards finding a South African dance language that mirrors the rich cultural heritage of Kwa-Zulu Natal. The company brings together disparate strands in forms of dance, music and theme revealing in its various juxtapositions a commonality that runs through all our diversities. (Appendix D). See Appendix F for further information on Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre's company history.
Pather sees the intersection and confluence of almost unimaginable possibilities of human interaction [...] as a source for his art. (Janse van Rensburg, 2004: 1)
Pather's shift away from traditional theatre spaces, to create site-specific dance theatre "was prompted by the limitations of the black box, and coincidentally at a time when traditional display institutions were becoming more eager to invite 'breathing' art into their hallowed spaces" (Janse van Rensburg, 2004:1). He describes his shift into site-specific dance theatre as a move towards
decentralising performance to make it more accessible (Appendix A/B/C).Pather says of his shift towards site-specific dance theatre:
There are a few reasons [for deciding to create site-specific dance theatre] but I think the two most focused ones, is the fact that... and this was in Shifting Spaces... was my pre-occupation with architecture, the architecture of Durban and the architecture of public spaces, and my fascination with how these spaces and architecture shapes the body [...] But, I think there's a more pedestrian kind of reason as well [...] I just became very tired of 'costume making' these works for [...] my friends and family... you know [...] in a theatre space - with all of the trappings and everything... and it's fairly popular amongst our... you know...
people who can afford it... or people who watch dance. (Appendix C)
This impetus to 'decentralise' performance in a context that has historically legislated spatial access (on the basis of race) is also important in relation to Pather's decision to create work in public spaces, as with CityScapes and its various locations in and around Durban's Central Business District (C.B.D.)
51. Interestingly, Pather has emerged within the South African performance-scape as the only local artist to identify his works as site-specific
52. It is necessary toclarify how this term is used, and understood, specifically with the historical baggage around the legislation of space and peoples access to spaces within the South African context. In response to a question regarding how he engages the term and practice of 'site-specific' in relation to his performance making, as a relatively new genre of performance within South Africa, he engages the notion of site-specific within the framework of site-responsive performance making:
I think you know there's an artist who exhibited at the NSA53 and she called it site-responsive [...] And I find that quite lovely, I think that's more what it is... It's about... it's not about, finding a site and doing a performance, it's about finding a site, responding to the site, chewing on the site and then trying to figure out what's going on here... and then developing something in it... so I think that's what I understand, I think it comes closest. (Appendix C)
His engagement with the notion of site-responsive performance adds further dimensions to site-specificity within performance, as it renders the spaces in which it occurs as integral and active participants in the processes of performance making. These ideas will be elaborated in later chapters of this dissertation in relation to two of Pather's recent site-specific works: CityScapes and Home.
51 CityScapes will be elaborated on in chapter three of this dissertation.
,2 This may be partly due to his academic studies at New York University, and the possible influence of American performance art on his development as a performance practitioner, while studying there.
53 The NSA (or KZNSA) is a local Durban Art Gallery space which is often also used as a performance and dance space.
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Moreover, Pather has explained his contextual connection to Durban as an important influential aspect with regards both process and product in relation to the creation of his site-specific dance theatre works:
My connection to Durban is very strong [...] it is such a concentrated cultural experience. The political environment of KZN lends to our specific aesthetic.
Durban, unlike Cape Town is not blase, we are somewhat forced into an intercultural clash/explosion, [...] in Durban we are still aware of our separateness. (Appendix A/B)
Pather's alignment with contemporary dance and his integrative, often collaborative method of making political dance theatre, inform his processes of understanding and viewing bodies as sites. Pather articulates:
The body is a site, but it is also within a site... you know... it's held by a site, it's rejected by a site; it is... it can carve itself into a site, or it can be in an antagonistic relationship with the site... I mean, I think the fact that it is a site is just... makes it an ideal kind of mirror - reflecting or opposing whatever... the
larger site... I think that's basically what the issue is. I think, the body as a site completely... for me it is not complete though, unless it is located in a context.
(Appendix C)
This sentiment is important, specifically in relation to the debates raised thus far in this dissertation. Pather acknowledges an important premise of the argument proposed in this dissertation, that bodies as sites are influential over and influenced by the spaces through which they travel and in which they exist. To this, Pather adds a further dimension of context, indicative of the socio-cultural and political underpinnings of any given space. Furthermore, Pather's background in contemporary dance theatre has also influenced his use of space and bodies within the production of his recent site-specific performances.
Pather's roots in contemporary dance theatre have also been influential in his adoption of site-specific dance theatre as a working practice within South Africa.
In aligning the disciplines of dance and theatre, Pather significantly engages a cross-over style of performance making that is not confined to any singular formal rules. In establishing his work as dance theatre, rather than just dance Pather also engages an idea of dance that tells stories, that his dance theatre works are not just abstract movement, but rather more accessible movement
narratives:
Dance theatre is a mediation of dance and theatre; essentially it is dance that tells stories in a completely abstract way, dance that deals with notions of narrative and even anti-narrative, but dance that is not formal. I try to capture work that deals with narratives and recognisable histories; these are mediated by the performers with whom I am working - usually dancers who act or actors who dance and therefore already have a mediated palate. Essentially the dance theatre that I create seeks to make theatre work that is accessible. (Appendix A)
The idea of access is an important one within the South African context, given the history of (racially) regulated and often denied (spatial) accesses in this country.
Pather's commitment to engage work that is accessible is also evident in his use of cultural symbols and iconography that he engages. His use of contextual icons and South African-isms within the context of his site-specific dance theatre is an integral part of his working processes and presentations.