Yesterday was another good day and one of those when I found myself doing something totally foreign to my "normal" activities at home; which is good. The plan was to wait for the OYO driver to pick us up at the hostal and then get a lift with him to a conference centre outside of town. All went according to plan until he tried to start the truck... and nothing. Sounded flooded and after a quick inspection, we noticed that the choke was sticking on but even after waiting there was nothing and we spent a good deal of time trying to figure out what to do next, how to get the other truck at the organisation's HQ, etc. In the end, we pushed the first truck into the hostal's guarded carpark and then waited for the driver to fetch the other vehicle. Out came the Zizek and I was very thankful that the breakdown had happened in front of our temporary home and not some 10 kms out on a gravel road in the noonday sun.
We eventually made it to the centre and Philippe Talavera, the director of OYO and good friend of Monica's, had thoughtfully switched his program around a bit so that we could see him directing his troupe of young dancers and singers in their rehearsal of both new and old material. The group is made up of 4 guys and 4 girls and they are very good performers. One of the women obviously has had drama and dance training; she's got "it" when she performs and easily commands the audience's attention. The others, though, all have their strengths as well and are quite impressive, especially since many of them have only been involved since April. A couple of weeks ago, they all went to Berlin and performed their dances and songs on their first international tour. Now, they were practising for events surrounding the official premiere of OYO's new movie (the one about gang-rape that we showed last week to some high-schoolers). What is more, a film crew from the UK had flown down with 2 hip-hop artists and were documenting the troupe's preparations. The camera operators were cool to talk to and the guy even confessed to being a hockey fan and threw out the magical words: "Doug Gilmour..." ahhh, Dougy... damn you Gretzky and your non-called high-stick back in '93! Damn you!
We eventually made it to the centre and Philippe Talavera, the director of OYO and good friend of Monica's, had thoughtfully switched his program around a bit so that we could see him directing his troupe of young dancers and singers in their rehearsal of both new and old material. The group is made up of 4 guys and 4 girls and they are very good performers. One of the women obviously has had drama and dance training; she's got "it" when she performs and easily commands the audience's attention. The others, though, all have their strengths as well and are quite impressive, especially since many of them have only been involved since April. A couple of weeks ago, they all went to Berlin and performed their dances and songs on their first international tour. Now, they were practising for events surrounding the official premiere of OYO's new movie (the one about gang-rape that we showed last week to some high-schoolers). What is more, a film crew from the UK had flown down with 2 hip-hop artists and were documenting the troupe's preparations. The camera operators were cool to talk to and the guy even confessed to being a hockey fan and threw out the magical words: "Doug Gilmour..." ahhh, Dougy... damn you Gretzky and your non-called high-stick back in '93! Damn you!
Anyway, it really was fun to watch these rehearsals and interpret the dances; they all revolve around the themes of discrimination, AIDS and violence, etc. and employ contemporary music but also some classical pieces and Phillipe certainly isn't afraid to let the dancers get pretty physical and kinetic in their movements.
Afterward, I got a chance to talk to a few of them and it was really interesting to hear their takes on Berlin, on what they want to do in the future, etc. When a couple of them mentioned all of the contacts that they made on their trip, I took the opportunity to remind them that following-up is important and that they shouldn't be embarassed or shy to write people and just stay on their radar... 'cause that's the way that networking is done in the North and sometimes, you just have to play the game... especially if you've only got something to gain and nothing to lose by trying.
ps: "to the perfection" is another charming Namibian expression...
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