Spectacle - Hatched Ensemble, Mamela Nyamza

Perched on their toes, ten dancers slowly but surely shatter the conventions of classical ballet. Echoing the solo that launched her onto the international stage (Hatched), South African choreographer Mamela Nyamza presents a spellbinding group piece. While the opening notes of *Hatched Ensemble* draw on Camille Saint-Saëns’s *The Swan*, the dancers—wearing white skirts with strange, protruding fringes and standing with their backs to the audience—do so to better surprise us. The slow undulation of the bodies is disrupted by the arrival of a musician and a singer who come to rouse the small troupe, allowing it to overturn conventions and bring forth traditional dances and songs that liberate movements, bodies, and genders. This artistic fusion then bursts into flame with red and human warmth… electrifying!

As part of Passages Transfestival.