Cape Dance Company

Source: The List (Issue 582)
Date: 9 August 2007

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Contemporary African fusion

Bringing a show to the Edinburgh Fringe is a financial challenge for most people – but when you live over 6000 miles away, it’s a Herculean effort. Cape Dance Company has visited the Fringe twice before, in 1996 and 1998, so a return visit is long overdue.

‘We had a wonderful experience last time,’ says the company’s artistic director, Debbie Turner. ‘But the overriding issue for South African dance is funding. This time we’re performing with a group of 24 dancers, which is great but took a lot of fundraising and saving!’

Cape Dance Company works on a project basis, fed by the Cape Youth Dance Company and the Cape Academy of Performing Arts. Aged between 13 and 23, the dancers are cherry picked for the occasion and all of them trained in classical ballet and contemporary dance. They’ll be performing works by two of South Africa’s most revered choreographers, Sean Bovim and Sbonakaliso Ndaba.

Bovim’s Cicadas is inspired by the incessant chatter of grasshopper-like insects, while Ndaba’s Indlela is an evocative piece urging us to find our own path in life. Cape’s classical and contemporary training, mixed with its African location, has led to an interesting combination of styles. ‘The company has a strong identity,’ says Turner. ‘And the style of the work is varied, but can best be described as Contemporary African fusion.’
(Kelly Apter)

Zoo Southside, 662 6892, 11–18 Aug, 6.30pm, £7–£10 (£8).

More: Cape Dance Company, Debbie Turner, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Sbonakaliso Ndaba, Sean Bovim, Fringe (Edinburgh Festivals), Contemporary Dance (Dance)

Last updated: 25 Jul 2008 17:14 BST