Celebrated choreographer Gregory Maqoma and Vuyani Dance Theatre returns to the Joburg stage with Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro for a limited run from 31 October to 3 November 2024. This new contemporary dance production draws inspiration from the character Toloki in South African author Zakes Mda’s novels Cion and Ways of Dying.
More about Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro
In this new body of work, the message of death and its dire consequences are infused through a lament to be able to confront a universe in which the age-old tropes of greed, power and religion have given rise to loss of life, not as a natural phenomenon.
Toloki is a professional mourner who weaves through this virtual landscape of dissolution giving rise to a catharsis of universal grief that will conquer the sadness. The hard reality continues to permeate the living confronted by death that is not their own, often so unexpected, brutal and merciless.
Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro is spiritually charged and set in a graveyard with the persistent cries of people in mourning and the a cappella music of Isicathamiya in our languages led by a quartet to the creative arrangement and composition by Nhlanhla Mahlangu.
The rich score vividly elicits emotions associated with the loss of life performed by dancers who are themselves possessed by the spirit and being one with the departed souls, finally laying them to rest for peace and humanity to prevail.
Gregory Maqoma’s central message through this work is that we need to pause for a moment and urgently think about the pain inflicted on others by the actions of others.
How to book tickets
Cost: R250pp, and book via Webtickets
When: Running from 31 October to 3 November 2024. On selected days, shows at 7pm and 3pm
Where: John Kani stage at The Market Theatre, 56 Margaret Mcingana St, Newtown, Johannesburg
Website: markettheatre.co.za
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 011 832 164
Facebook: @TheMarketTheatre
Instagram: @markettheatre
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