Gregory Maqoma’s exit/entrances is a dance production with several complex layers

This production has several complex layers ranging from the personal, history, politics to simply dance. It runs at the Market Theatre till.

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

You could tell right from the start that legendary dancer and choreographer Gregory Maqoma was in his element last night, June 22, 2023. After all, a lot is at stake during this league of his most famous and critically acclaimed production Exit/Exist. Its season at the Market Theatre is short 22 – 25 June 2023 and thereafter the production goes to National Arts Festival from 27 – 28 June 2023. This performance is one of last performances as Maqoma retires from dancing as he wraps up current works and hand over successively to a younger generation of contemporary dancers, which South Africa fortunately happens to have in big numbers.

These two seaons are therefore quite important in the life of the dancer. To start with the story itself is full of emotions, easily discernible even by the most indifferent an audience member. How could you not feel and get transported right into the centre of this story through emotions, when the theatre stage is itself-is dimly lit, with the spotlight light focussing on the dancer and the cast of fellow artists only providing the background to the story, just in the same way that one would hear background music in a restaurant but still enjoy their meal, almost as If there is nothing happening in the way of music.

However if such music stopped playing, you would notice and in fact perhaps not enjoy the ambience at all. The point is every element in this show is playing an essential part in creating the whole. You cannot isolate one element without affecting the whole.

Maqoma’s gracious performance last night at the Market Theatre could easily be likened to one enjoying a sumptuous meal in a restaurant where there is music in the background, but because the meal is so delicious, you hardly hear the music, but instead focus on the meal, and yet the music is essential in the complete dining experience.

For us last night, Maqoma’s dance was the meal. Clad in a brown suit and bare footed, when he first went on stage, Maqoma for a good number of minutes, gets involved in a lone, quick emotional dance series at the centre of the stage and the atmosphere created by the dim lights and the grace with which the dancer carries himself on stage, create such a touching scene, that one is immediately sucked into the heart of this story.

As you do so, you also realise that even though this is a story of Maqoma’s ancestor, Chief Maqoma who was involved in the brutal frontier wars in the Eastern Cape, pitting traditional leaders and the British settlers in fierce fights for the land and its soil and anything lying underneath it, it is also about the fate that befell our forebears during colonialism in Africa.

But in this specific case Chief Maqoma did not just watch in despair as the settlers kept on encroaching on his land, displacing his people. He resisted with much bravado. Eventually he was captured and taken to Robben Island, where he died under suspicious circumstances in 1973.

But secondly this edition is important personally to Maqoma as this is his last production as a dancer. He is turning 50 on 16 october, and with that milestone, he is calling it quits from doing what he has loved so much since he was a young person. In other words, Gregory is retiring in style, dancing in a production that is so personal, that is so visibly emotional to the dancer to an extent that even in semi-darkness, one could still see the emotions that are enveloping and overwhelming the dancer as he goes through his dance sequences.

Thirdly, this is a special show in that it is also a collaborative effort by two artists both critically acclaimed in their chosen artistic genres -Maqoma and jazz vocalist Simphiwe Dana.  The music and the dance meld so well that they assist to carry even the laziest in the audience to think along the journey that Chief Maqoma undertook as he fought for his people’s right to their territory and the land.

I especial like the scenes in this production that are symbolic at many levels. For example, the use of the soil as a prop in the production reminds those watching about the importance of land in the frontier wars. In one scene, Gregory skilfully draws a circle, almost perfect, using the soil and he does some dances right there in the circles for sometime. That circle could be symbolic of his ancestor’s imprisonment on Robben Island. When the dancer changes into traditional regalia, one cannot fail to connect to the Xhosa people that Chief Maqoma led, and on whose behalf he fought gallantly with the British colonialists in the Eastern Cape.

It is therefore really befitting that Gregory is retiring through this production, clearly his most important work in his entire career. He can therefore retire knowing that with the showing of this production, he has given his South African audiences something special, something they will talk about when it comes to his name for years to come. This is an important piece of work at several levels, with complex layers ranging from the personal history, politics to simply good dance. Thinking a bit deeper as you watch this production, these layers will start revealing themselves one by one for the duration this show runs on stage.

This league of his production is also important in that after travelling with the production to Europe over the years, including traveling to Paris in 2021, barely a year after the outbreak of Covid-19, where he performed to full houses and his performances were much appreciated by European audiences there, the fact that he decided to end his dance career on home ground just demonstrates that he cares about his local audiences. He could have retired by staging his last show elsewhere in Europe for example, where he also has a solid following. Actually more than he has in South Africa.

When CITYLIFE/ARTS ran an article about his impending retirement on the dance floor, some of the readers begged that he should not retire. Such sentiments are understandable, given the fact that he has many fans in this country who have followed his career closely over the years, and are impressed by not only his dance and choreographic arrangements, but his complete dedication to an art form that is strictly speaking, not actually mainstream in South Africa, compared to say theatre or music.

However, the fact is dance is physically demanding, and at 50, it is actually time to call it quits and focus on other aspects of dance, such as teaching dance or creating choreographic work for other dancers whose age allows them to hit the floor. I mean Gregory has paid his dues, especially considering the fact that he is probably the only one of his generation who at nearly 50 years is still dancing. Many who followed dance for years will remember names in contemporary dance such as Boyzie Cekwna and Vincent Mantsoe. These legends, are practically in semi-retirement, and rightly so given the fact that they have reached that age where they need to focus on other areas of the art of dancing, instead of actually hitting the floor.

However those who were with me in the John Kani Theatre last night will attest to the fact that Maqoma gave his best on the opening night of this production, and it is a performance that will remain etched on many of consciousness for a long time to come.  And indeed art lovers and his fans came in big numbers to fill up the John Kani Theatre last night, you could tell that theatre management had somehow a good headache of trying to make sure that everyone who turned up for the opening show was accommodated, as it appeared as if the theatre was somehow oversubscribed, by the look of things. I could be wrong, but what I am certainly not wrong on is the fact that filling the John Kani Theatre for a dance production, is not an everyday thing, but Maqoma did it with the opening of his last production in which he will be featured as a dancer.

.Exit/Exist is on at the Market Theatre from 22 – 25 June 2023 and the National Arts Festival from 27 – 28 June 2023.