Dance

Blue Virgins- posted 11-04-06

By Khanyile Mlotshwa

Step aside Jennifer Lopez. Aside Yondo Sister.

This bevy does belly dancing, samba, ndombolo, hip hop, rave, R ‘n” B, ragga and they call their combination Jungle Dance.

“We are untamed, but we have a sense of audience and we always choose our dances and make sure that what we perform suits the audience. In bars we are wild and seductive; but at schools, weddings and family gatherings, we do decent but entertaining dances. Even the costumes will be decent,” said Pindurai Mwakurudza, the group director.

She is deputized by Shellar Moyo, another talented dancer. The rest of the six member group are: Onitious Jiaguru, Sithabile Chokoza, Nonhlalo Dube and Chipo Chaumba.

Mwakurudza said the main aim of their group is to entertain, to prove to other young people that dance is a profession and to introduce dance style movements in the industry.

“More importantly, we want to use dance as our first step to our dreams which are music (singing in live shows) and appearing in film and movies,” she said.

The group started in December 2005. Mwakurudza used the creative process of associating to come up with the name for the group.

“I first came up with Untamed, meaning raw, but felt that the name was too ordinary and did not sound good. One day on my way to school, the name just crossed my mind. Blue is the colour of all our costumes and virgins means raw and in our case its raw talent, something that people haven’t seen here in Zimbabwe, something not yet tampered with,” she said.

Mwakurudza started off backing another dance group, Amakhosi Dance group at Hustlers Club until audiences requested that she find a group and show her talent. She sat with Moyo and had the idea of finding four more girls to join up with them. They were joined by Nonhlalo and then Chipo, who are both Amakhosi Performing Arts Academy (APAA) students. That was the end of December 2005. in mid January this year, Onitious and Sithabile came along.

“Six is a manageable number and we are only females because our dances are mostly feminine, involving only waist movements,” said Mwakurudza.

“Our first show was at the Back of the moon. For me, it was just like one of my shows but to some it was a bit frightening because it was their first show,” she said.

To date they have performed at Khami Bar, Metropolis, Paparazzi, Hustlers, Back Of The Moon, Amakhosi Theatre and Alabama.

“We perform twice or thrice a week depending on how busy we are with our studies,” said Mwakurudza.

The group that rehearses at Icon studios in North End said it was interested in going to South Africa and touring the region.

The group’s repertoire of dances include Crocodile.

“This is the crawling dance and we call it that because when we crawl our eyes will be wide open and looking straight ahead as the crocodile does when it is approaching its prey. To us the prey is the audience,” she laughs.

Anyone who has ever seen the audience enraptured by these girls on stage will agree that it will at the mercy of this new generation of artists.

“The other one is where we move our waists side to side, front, back, up-down and round we call it Snake because we ‘ll be doing just like the snake that moves by wiggling its body.”

They have other dances like the Kangaroo, where they jump putting their legs together; the Baboon where they dance with their feet and hands on the floor with their stomachs up; the Eagle is where they dance with their hands flung out like the wings of an eagle and then the Dog dance where they lift their legs like a male dog does when urinating.

“All in all we call our dances Jungle because they are derived from animals. The jungle is a rich land comprising trees, grass, animals and even people; and everything there is original. The animals are not tamed, the land is not tilled, everything is raw, original and virgin so are our dances. They are animal dances,” she said.

She said they watch a lot of wildlife movies and animal behaviour inspires them.

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Lothu Lothu Endures

By Khanyile Mlotshwa - posted 06-03-06

THE going is tough in the arts industry especially in this country where arts groups come together today and tomorrow they disband. However Lothu Lothu has been through all and today they are the backbone of the arts industry boasting of highly experienced men and women.

The group, a traditional imbube troupe, was founded in 1992 by a group of boys who had been part of Amakhosi Performing Arts Workshop training programme. This was an arts training programme introduced by Amakhosi in 1988 and was the first of its kind. It offered comprehensive training in stage combat, voice techniques, stage and film acting, dance, music and instrument playing.

“After discovering our talents in this workshop, we came up with Lothu-Lothu and we have never looked back since then. Among the Ndebele of Zimbabwe there is a saying to the effect that learning has no end, and at Lothu-Lothu we have not lost the wisdom of our ancestors as we have continued to learn by way of attending workshops on traditional dance and imbube music. To date we have produced a lot of plays for theatre and traditional dances,” said Julian Tshuma, the leader of the group.

The imbube music and traditional dances of Lothu-Lothu revolve around the Nguni culture of the Zulus and the Ndebeles. Culture is dynamic and with time Lothu-Lothu’s style has been modified and mixed with a lot of traditional dances from Southern Africa region such as indlamu, isichathamiya, isitshikitsha and many others. In the ancient times before the Nguni warriors went to war they would sing and dance to boost their moral and spirit. Since most of these dances are war dances high energy and strong feet stamping characterize them.

“Out of the initial 11 boys who came together in 1992 only five are still in the group today. While others found the going, in the arts field, tough and opted for formal employment; others moved to other artistic projects,” he said.

The remaining five full time members are Zenzo Nyathi, Dingizulu Nyathi, Julian Tshuma, Thulani Mbambo and Tinashe Nyakudanga.

“At the turn of the new millennium we became gender sensitive and incorporated two girls into the group. The two girls were Beater Khumalo and Silethubuhle Mzina paving way for the birth of the powerful “Dance Ipito” production,” Tshuma said.

However the two girls are no longer with the group. Beater Mangethe now leads her own band and has found a new lease of life as a musician, winning fame for herself.

“We have performed almost all over Zimbabwe; at schools, colleges, community halls and theatres,” he said.

He said they have toured as far as Theatre In the park in Harare. They have also taken part in a number of festivals that include Inxusa Festival in Bulawayo, Windybrow Arts Festival in Johannesburg, South Africa; the Maitisong Annual Festival in Botswana and the Bagamoyo Arts Festival in Tanzania.

“The highlight of our performances is when we performed for Prince Edward on his visit to Bulawayo in 1996,” he said.

“Lothu-Lothu traditional Imbube Troupe is aimed at reviving and teaching African culture and customs through music, dance and dialogue,” Tshuma added.

The group is based at the Amakhosi Township Square Cultural Centre, the heart of Zimbabwean arts. The group is so dedicated to art that it has sacrificed formal employment for art. All the members work full time to sharpen their voices and polish dance routines.

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