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© John Hogg

Dada Masilo | The Dance Factory

The Sacrifice

2023-05-09 19:30 2023-05-10 20:30 60 Canada/Eastern 🎟 NAC: Dada Masilo | The Dance Factory

https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/31887

In-person event

Dada Masilo has always been fascinated by the study of unfamiliar dance forms and fusing these vocabularies with contemporary dance or classical ballet to create a new language that lets her body tell the stories.  Following the great success at NAC Dance in 2016 with her Swan Lake, we are thrilled to welcome her back with her newest creation.   In The Sacrifice, she explores her Motswana origins through the lens of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring having been...

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Babs Asper Theatre,1 Elgin Street,Ottawa,Canada
May 9 - 10, 2023
7:30 pm EDT
© John Hogg
© John Hogg
© John Hogg
Dance Contemporary
“My approach is to show that contemporary African dance and ballet can co-exist. It is about finding an innovative way of fusing the two. I believe that we need to collapse barriers that exist between them because they are restrictions. And as dancers we don’t need restrictions.” Dada Masilo

Featured artists

  • Dada Masilo ©
    Choreographer Dada Masilo
  • In-person event
  • ≈ 60 minutes · No intermission

Dada Masilo has always been fascinated by the study of unfamiliar dance forms and fusing these vocabularies with contemporary dance or classical ballet to create a new language that lets her body tell the stories.  Following the great success at NAC Dance in 2016 with her Swan Lake, we are thrilled to welcome her back with her newest creation.  

In The Sacrifice, she explores her Motswana origins through the lens of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring having been intrigued by the complex rhythms of Stravinsky’s score. 

For the choreographer, who grew up in South Africa in a Xhosa environment, the question wasn’t just to bring together different dances, but to explore her own origins and to work on markers of identity: collective chants, rites, and beyond that, the desire for sacrifice. 

With four musicians and ten dancers, Masilo explores both the minimalism and animality of Tswana dance in relation to Stravinsky’s work. Mixed with contemporary dance, she studies for the first time the cultural dance of her heritage and what sacrifice meant to the Tswana people then and what it means now. The question must be asked: the evil that humans do to themselves, is it necessary to change? What must be sacrificed? How can we start afresh?  

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun
May 8
May 9
  • 7:30pm
May 10
  • 7:30pm
May 11
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May 14
video: Dada Masilo / The Dance Factory
Dada Masilo / The Dance Factory "THE SACRIFICE"
© John Hogg
© John Hogg
© John Hogg

Artists

  • Dada Masilo ©
    Choreographer Dada Masilo
  • Dancers Dada Masilo, Sinazo Bokolo, Refiloe Mogoje, Thandiwe Mqokeli, Lwando Dutyulwa, Thuso Lobeko, Songezo Mcilizeli, Steven Mokone, Lebo Seodigeng, Tshepo Zasekhaya
  • Musicians Ann Masina, Leroy Mapholo, Tlale Makhene, Nathi Shongwe
  • Composers Ann Masina, Leroy Mapholo, Tlale Makhene, Nathi Shongwe 
  • Costumes David Hutt
  • Lighting & Projection Suzette le Sueur
  • Sound Thabo Pule 
  • Production Assistant Thabiso Tshabalala
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