AfriCarmen by Tavaziva Dance

Salisbury Arts Centre's own Youth Dance Company, Jigsaw, opened the show with a 5 minute piece they had created in collaboration with Tavaziva Dance called, Emerge. The group of eight young female dancers worked with Tavaziva Dance's Artistic Director, Bawren Tavazia & Company Dancer, Lisa Rowley, over a two-day residency. The piece was performed with style. The girls combined contemporary and African styles to create a piece full of energy and dynamism.

The influence the company had on the girls was obvious as soon as the first company dancer stepped on stage for AfriCarmen. Tavaziva had already shown within the first few moments that he had created a unique style of dance, combining not just contemporary and African styles but intertwining it with classical ballet and flairs of Latin. The intricacy and detail in each move was spellbinding. The sheer strength and stamina needed from each dancer was evident with the force and speed in which they executed each movement.

AfriCarmen, modernizes the famous opera Carmen, bringing the story alive in a new and exciting way. It moves the story to an unnamed, oil-rich, military dictatorship in Africa, a setting not far from the truth of present day events. From the beginning we are transported to this place through dance. The sets, minimal, leave room for the dancers to become the storytellers with the help of a fantastic score by Fayyaz Virji. The music and movement help us move from the hard and arduous beats of the oilrig workers to the alive and energetic village. We switch from hard and fast beats throughout to the quieter, stiller moments, only hearing crickets in the grass.

There are two moments in particular that I felt captured the heart of the dance. The first was a scene in which the Military entered dressed in typical camouflage they showed strong, clear movements throughout without losing the flow and passion of the style. They remained perfectly in sync during moments of unison and when using canon were precise in their repetition of an early movement. This scene in particular hit home about the realities of the civil wars going on currently. The combination of solid beats and firm movements conjured up images you often seen on the news, it was moving.

The second moment encapsulated the love in the piece. Throughout the show we returned to the love affair of Carmen and fellow villager, Mhondiwa. For what is often a difficult thing to portray on stage, they managed to show the relationship between them with a slow sultry beat and the intertwining of their bodies in the most interesting ways. The two dancers moved fluidly between one another and effortlessly lifted and supported one another in every step. These were the scenes where we saw flairs of Latin, making a more open, loose tango, adding some carefully placed salsa and some seductive rhumba. These styles were incorporated flawlessly with the African, ballet and contemporary fusion.

It is not often I walk away from a dance performance so invigorated to change the ways of the world. Tavaziva Dance managed to show passion and fire in every step. They lifted their audience and brought them into their world. I can truly say I never felt so involved and invested in a dance piece before. This story of war, lust, sorrow and heartbreak was perfectly portrayed by Tavaziva and his group of incredible dancers.