Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Graduation Speech

Looking back in the way I know how.
I pay homage to the meetings.
In shared silence sitting in a circle, under the moonlight.
I looked up in one moment and realized we all live under the same sky.
Waking up in the dark to sit in silence and observe, ourselves, myself I am nothing without the breath, hands of others. 

The moments were transformed to treasure associated with fresh fruits, late night swimming under the skylight and the rumblings of a world that might end, enjoy now as life is too short and art is cultural.
Looking for energies, searching to uplift the artistic soul, the road leads to a place similar to an artistic Mecca.

This place that I have called my home for the past two and half years. 
These walls when days were dark they became darker whispering anxiety, self doubt and spitting at my insecurities. 
These walls that hold untold secretes whispered in the frustration of creativity and intense observation of learning by looking, doing and teaching.
In the halls I discovered my voice.
In the windows I avoided my true reflection, I abandoned the old in search of the new.
In the door frames and wooden doors I knocked, scratched and banged my head at the same time enjoying the pain and the wood splinters in my fore head.

Searching for an identity is nothing to be made fun of.
I remember wailing, I remember crying so much that it turned into laughter.
I remember talking, talking, talking. 
I remember the warmth laughter and I escaping to the arms of advisers and staff. Smoke breaks, walks in the park, crazy ideas  and crying out.

 Once I wrote:
Dear Reader
I don’t even know where to begin.
I’m sitting here and actually hand writing to you, it feels so old school. but it is the way it has to be. So let’s call this…A Journey towards Home.

 It is difficult to pinpoint one person and a certain event that has transformed, informed, morphed, performed in my search for home.
I know that it is from a lot of patience, administration, admiration and warm-natured belief of others in my work that I have ended up here. 
So I say ngiyabonga, ngiyabonga, ngiyabonga not only to you but also to myself.
No it doesn't work…
 It’s the rhythm and the pose, then catch, drop fall.
No, No try again the same way.
It’s the rhythm in the pose the catch drop fall.
Dum da dudum duda.

Ok, jiggle, wiggle move your package, don’t sit on a chair.
 Dum da dudum duda.

Keep it simple, keep it clean…

My pen rages and barks caught like cables run wild,
As usual I see red, red everywhere. Wanting to appear full circle at 360 degrees.
I’m looking at the world from all angles carrying suitcases of possibilities, formalities… Oops… accidents do happen so draw the curtains,
sms a friend the worlds gone blind

“I’m doing research in Zimbabwe, the children are always so happy there “

Ok, ok, I’ll keep it down.

Sooo what do you do?

I have demons, visions of a new world order, where food,resources are shared, spared all around the universe.

Ok, ok I’ll keep it light. Why am I surprised it’s the way of the world.
Push your own agenda, light a cigarette, the train is 5 minutes late hyperventilate …and the beat goes on… dum da dumdum duda…
 I guess ngifuna ukuba umuntu ongcono,
 obona izinto nagamehlo engqondo.
 Ngifuna ukukhuluma ngento ekhona;
bekhona abanye bethi bayakhululuma kodwa bayadavuza nje.

Jump, jump before u think.
The hip-hops heavy so follow your own rhythm.
Keep it light keep it simple, move with ease.

Sun rays light up my eyes as the dew drops squeeze their way pas the grass.
The air damp with a new day sings a fresh song making the leaves slow dance to the morning fog.
The birds sing in tune with the new morning, blocking out sounds of construction work and numbness of everyday.
The sun hums in out of the clouds like a coy mistress she’s in and out of focus, yet her song is heard all through out the land.
Even the busy bumble bee knows today will be a good day the sun cant hide it in her eyes.

 

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

http://www.fringereview.co.uk/fringeReview/5104.html


Face Off 



Genre: 



fringe theatre rating fringe theatre rating fringe theatre rating fringe theatre rating fringe theatre rating 

In essence, this is a pretty simple show. A performance artist sings a bit of Schubert, does a character piece in stand-up mode, has some badinage with her pianist, then changes back in front of VT, pulls faces in front the audience, then does the same in front of VT, sings a song in X'hosa and does a rap about the borders of artistic liberty when you yourself are a performer 'of colour'.
http://www.fringereview.co.uk/fringeReview/5104.html


Reviewed by Jorik Mol 5 September 2012

Website :

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

FACE OFF





My travels, like any other, developed out of a necessity - the need to develop myself as a maker and a performer. Along this journey I have often felt the need to be acknowledged by others, and to feel worthy as an artist and as a person. At DasArts, I questioned what makes me unique as an artist. What is it, exactly, that I do? What makes me different from the talented maid who washes the dirty laundry while humming a lullaby that sends shivers down the spine, the garbage man who makes figurines as a hobby, or the waiter who is also a jazz musician by night? Once I realised there is nothing special about what I do, I felt, for the most part, as though I was digging in mud and getting nowhere. Finding my own truth has been central component of my two-year quest.

As a theatre maker, I am interested in making work that contributes to the world I live in. To do that, I need to go deeper and find my signature as a maker, to investigate form and style and my specific approach to creating performance. Again, this process involved several questions. Why do I feel the need to abandon conventional methods in theatre? How do I approach the spectators in such a way that they listen and feel? Indeed, why should they? What do I expect from the spectator?
Ironically, putting myself out there as the subject, insecurities and all, has been the key to finding a truthful and deeply personal expression that touches on universal issues. As soon as I stopped trying to match other people’s expectations, I found myself.

Face Off represents a preoccupation with my own skin. I am a South African whose life experience has been formed and dominated by race. Coming to Europe has made me confront these issues outside of racially prescribed South African society. At times, it is uncomfortable and feels claustrophobic. As a stranger in a strange land, I wonder whether these feelings are caused by how others perceive me, or whether I project these feelings onto others.
In Face Off, I hope to ask questions about the roles we play, the roles we are put into and masks we choose to wear.

The process forced me into a place where I stopped taking myself so seriously. I can laugh at myself, and do not feel the need to present concrete answers but, instead, to keep on asking questions. Once I started to ask questions, the wool began to unravel. Through this performance-based response I contextualised where I come from, what informs my immediate thought processes and how I respond to the world in general. At the very heart of the matter is my desire to make a socially engaging performance, to find my own voice and my own way, and to give form to this.

I would say that one of the most important lessons learned during this period has been that I do not need to try and gain acceptance from others. Instead, I engage with my art in a way that it is not only a fulfilling experience for my audience but one that also feeds my soul. Just like me, my art is constantly evolving and it cannot be fixed in one place anymore. It is from here that I will proceed, and continue to work, create, love and live.

Concept and Performance: Ntando Cele
Music: Simon Ho
Script: Raphael Urweider
Advisors: Catherine Henegan, Petra Aardai
Thanks to Dasarts- www.dasarts.nl
Rotefabrik- www.rotefabrik.ch

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Once walked, twice talked...








Once walked, twice talked…


When walking as opposed to running one of the feet is always in contact with the ground”.

As Ntando Cele I associate the ground with images of despair, desperation, grief and the potential for horizontal madness. I have the choice to walk over, along or in the ground. The performance;

Once walked, twice talked is an invitation to you the observer to take off your shoes and experience the ground, this is a story of two strangers; through sound and actions compete in the game of grief.

Thank you to Dasarts and Hetveem Theater September 2010

Mourner 1

Cat Smits

Mourner 2

Yinka Adesina

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

CYPHER SESSION VIDEO




“If my body were to be a drawn like a map, with borders, rivers and deserts; then through self composed sound, song, movement and spoken word; a knowledgeable person can navigate across the land recognizing the impressions of the future, past, present.”
Ntando Cele

Cypher Session is inspired by Songlines of the Indigenous Australians and the need to create a space filled with memories that collide / interact creating dialogue. Through songs, sounds and movement the audience will interpret
different stories.

This was a presentation of a work in progress to get feedback from collegues and practitioners. DASARTS 09/06/10.