By BRUCE DENNILL
Angels In Africa: Lift The Line / Directed by Holly Gruver / UJ Arts Centre, Auckland Park, Johannesburg
Johannesburg dance company WGRUV’s final season of the year introduces (or re-introduces) South African audiences to the work of pioneering choreographer Martha Graham, whose techniques have shaped and influenced contemporary dance for many decades – the New York dance company that bears her name celebrated its centenary this year! Graham’s work Diversion Of Angels, staged for WGRUV by the Martha Graham Dance Company’s Lorenzo Pagano, is the cornerstone of Angels In Africa, which also features Reverence (choreographed by regular WGRUV collaborator Jessica Lang) and Prayer (choreographed by WGRUV’s Holly Gruver and Lex Gruver for their 2025 production Letters Of Reflection).
A musical introduction is provided by string trio Musicians of Africa (violinist Phakamani Pega, cellist Sizekile Shuba and bassist Emmanuel Paul), who appear regularly throughout the production – sometimes supplemented by vocalist Sharon Paul – adding pleasing modulation of pace as well giving the dancers time to recover between strenuous passages of dancing.
Lang’s piece offers an elegant challenge for the eight dancers it is designed for, with physical input required far beyond the usual control of form and hitting marks. Notably, there is a lot of carrying (as opposed to more conventional brief lifts most often seen in ballet and the like), sometimes seeing a male dancer complete a relatively extended sequence of steps with a female partner draped over his shoulder, requiring extraordinary strength and control from both dancers as they maintain their postures. There is also an interesting focus on the combination of aspects of the choreography and staging. Where melding music and movement is an obvious and beautiful blend, Lang creates stark contrasts of shape and light, with her choreography placing the dancers in groupings that reflect and obstruct strong beams from the side of the stage, producing deep shadow alongside the bright colours of the dancers’ superbly tailored costumes.
After the musicians return to perform Henry Mancini’s Moon River, Prayer returns the focus to the movement/music connection, with the score by Reinhardt Buhr featuring musical phrases that grow in intensity as the piece progresses. The choreography is designed to increase in energy as a reflection of that musical curve, communicating how deep influences shape how people act. It feels of a piece with Lang’s work, even though it is stylistically very different, maintaining a continuous mood and dynamism that sees the audience go into the interval enthused and looking forward to the second act.
As soon as Diversions Of Angels begins, it is clear that you don’t need to be any sort of dance expert to recognise that Martha Stewart techniques are distinct from much of whatever else you’re used to seeing with (among much else), the men required, often, to extend one foot to full pointe with the other at right angles to their shin – a sort of pat-your-head-rub-your-tummy exercise for athletes – and the women to hold striking poses requiring extraordinary balance for ages. Vivid colours mark three of the female dancers as halves of couples whose distinct choreography signifies mature, erotic and adolescent love respectively. The work is a visual feast as well as a whirlwind of vitality, the effect of which is felt, pointedly, when an abrupt ending elicits a collective exhalation from the audience, who had been so absorbed by the piece that many had been unwittingly holding their breath.
It’s difficult to highlight particular passages for their standout properties, as the entire production and the bulk of the choreography sees all the dancers in tight collaboration with their colleagues rather spending too much time drawing the eye to individuals. That said, a short, sharp solo from Marlon Sales in Reverence and a physically testing pas de deux featuring Chloe Gruver and Vinicius Vasconcelos in Diversions Of Angels are notable for the pace, balance and strength involved.
Angels In Africa is a collection of ideas and influences – time-honoured American techniques, music with the colours of Africa, a company of dancers from all over the world – that comes together brilliantly, showcasing the development of a young company that is increasingly growing the space it occupies and the sway it holds in the South African arts scene.