Moin Moin Productions

Critics of surrealism always want to point out what they think is this deep connection between surrealism and jazz around this notion of improvisation. What’s less clear is whether or not they thought in a rigorous way about what improvisation actually is.
Improvisation is etymologically understood to be connected with not looking ahead with a kind of movement without foresight... but what if the movement without foresight is not because people are incapable of looking ahead or incapable of planning... what if it’s because what they were always doing was looking back...
this amazing combination of forward movement while looking back…
Fred Moten
thoughts from Surrealism Beyond Borders | On Black, Brown, & Beige

On 12 January 2022, NASA published the first images from the James Webb Telescope of distant galaxies from over 10 billion light years ago. While the ability to capture images of ancient galaxies propel us closer to an idea of futurity, they also serve as a reminder that perhaps we are not as far along as we think. Collaborating once again for this new creation, the artists of Impilo Mapantsula and Jeremy Nedd dig deeper into topics that navigate various entangled avenues of Black diasporic, cosmologic and Afrofuturist experience. This through the lens of Pantsula, a powerful dance form which is well known for its high-speed virtuosic footwork, an expression that during Apartheid gave a voice to a whole generation. Focusing on the improvisational potential of Pantsula’s movement vocabulary in response to cosmic and spiritual jazz music of Alice Coltrane and Bheki Mseleku, the performance draws upon phenomena found in the cosmos as metaphoric inspiration: from the birth of a galaxy to the death of a star. Connecting the powerful and lyrical jive style of today’s Pantsula while echoing oppressive struggles of the past, the performers contemplate the compression of space and time, and our allusions of progress towards a future.

CREDITS
Concept / Choreography / Performance Jeremy Nedd
Performance / Choreography Sibongile Mathebula, Sicelo Xaba, Thomas Motsapi, Bonakele Masethi, Sello Modiga
Technical management & lighting design Thomas Giger
Stage design Laura Knüsel
Costume Tara Mabiala
Sound design Fabrizio Di Salvo, Rej Deproc
Dramaturgy Anta Helena Recke
Diffusion ART HAPPENS
Production Caroline Froelich (Moin Moin Productions)
Touring Arina Frölich
Technical management Touring Chiara Leonhardt

In coproduction with
ARSENIC Centre d’art scénique contemporain, Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel, Kaserne Basel, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Festival Tangente - Festspielhaus St. Pölten, SPIELART Theaterfestival

With the kind support of
Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater BS/BL, Pro Helvetia, SIS Schweizer Interpretenstiftung 

INFOS
Duration: approx. 60 mins
Language: English
Premiere: 24th May 2024, Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Centre Culturel Jacques Franck, Belgium


DATES
25. – 28.05.2024 Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Centre Culturel Jacques Franck, Belgium 
22.06.2024 Festival Tangente, Festspielhaus St. Pölten, Austria
15.-18.08.2024 Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel, Hamburg, Germany 
 28. -30.08.2024 Noorderzon, Groningen, Netherlands
09.-10.09.2024 La Batie, Geneva, Switzerland
13. -15.09.2024 Arsenic, Lausanne, Switzerland
19. - 20.09.2024 viernulvier, Ghent, Belgium
25. – 29.09.2024 Kaserne Basel, Switzerland