Nyamza's dance production grows up

Mamela Nyamza choreographs her dances like she choreographs her life, with intelligence and movement that combine tradition with pure, non-conformist impulse.

Nyamza is trained in classical ballet, but a range of influences, from butoh to jazz, also informs her. While she sees herself as an artist, dancer, choreographer and director, perhaps her most significant role is as a mother.

In Hatched, Nyamza continues the autobiographical work begun in Hatch, which explores the transformation of a girl into womanhood. Hatched has fused to gather the shifting artist–mother roles, negotiating the conflict between the myriad responsibilities facing the mother and artist. This performance features her son on stage. It is essentially a way of dealing with the fragmentation of her life – the rehearsals and the duty and call of motherhood.

“As an artist, I try to reflect my reality; it heals you,” said Nyamza.

Through her work, Nymaza provokes questions about the classic themes of domestic life, motherhood, tradition, culture and religion – and resolves them with a unique style.

“I use ballet as a strict form of technique,” said Nymaza, but she also breaks out of that convention in her performance. “I’m taking my shoes off at the end, it’s a relief – ah, I can dance!”

While the metaphor of loosening her shoe strings is a way of freeing herself from imposed expectations, it also suggests Nymaza’s belief that art needs to be liberating:

“I feel like art is dying here. People [are] stuck with the convention of looking at the beautiful.”

But beauty comes in many forms and certainly the strength and control of Nymaza’s movements are challenging narrow notions of what dancers must look like and how they need to move.

“Movement based” is the term Nymaza uses to describe her style She does not think in terms of technique and steps, but tries to imagine her work more broadly and conceptually.

Although capable of choreographing and performing traditional dance styles, with a national diploma in ballet, she appears to have moved beyond the rules they impose.Like Nymaza, Hatched,takes great risks. In a sense it mocks tradition while honouring the way it has created a disciplined space for creative exploration.Through it, Nymaza reveals that her life and art is in a constant state of reflecting transformation

“It’s like writing a book. I’m dancing my story.”