'Hatched Ensemble' rejects ballet's confines

Mamela Nyamza's "Hatched Ensemble" reflects on the hardship of conforming. (Photo by Tale Hendnes/Dansens Hus)

Breaking free from restrictive expectations and traditions can be painful, but the liberation one gains is cathartic.
 
That’s the message that Mamela Nyamza’s “Hatched Ensemble” sends. This transformative work, seen on Friday night and repeated tonight at PS/21 Center for Contemporary Performance in Chatham, gives a middle finger to the confines of classical ballet and ultimately celebrates the sounds and the dancing of South Africa.
 
Though the work, at its start, is slow and tedious, it ultimately ends on an upbeat note, saluting a soul’s truth. However, it also questions if one can ever really strike out on one’s own – detached from the culture in which one lives.
 
The work begins with the dancers wearing white skirts with clothes pin attached and pointe shoes. Men and women – both topless – shift painfully slow to Camille Saint-Saëns’ “The Dying Swan.” Over and over the music – that references the waning days and ultimate death of the waterfowl – plays on a loop. The dancers, with only their backs to the audience, also cite classical ballet’s undulating arms, reflecting the swan’s mournful journey.
 
And while it appears to be “the ballet” reimagined, the dancers are also raising slender poles on which farm animals, flowers, trees and windmills perch. Then suddenly, one of the dancers pops up, en pointe, to wake up the lethargic, cramped scene. He demands to be seen. Others hatch upwards and thus their journey begins.
 
At this point, there is an assertion of differences. “Hatched Ensemble” then swings into conformity once again – with dancers – literally hung up on ballet. Each hangs their red tutus and trench coats along a clothesline. While some of the dancers fade in the back – behind the line – others slip their arms into the sleeves of the bodices. They flay and jerk as if trying to get free to the music of Given “Azah” Mphago who is a traditional African multi-instrumentalist and the angelic voice of opera singer Litho Nqai who walks among them.
 
One in the background who didn’t try to fit the form, came forward. Using her arms, in a frantic vogue-style, she walks to the edge of the stage. The others got in line with her as they start down stage to confront the audience. It’s as if they are saying see me.
 
The house lights come up so that they could see the audience too.
 
After that, the dancers slip off their pointe shoes, rub their aching toes and celebrate South African style – with calls, whistles, song and a dance of military formation – similar to gumboot without the boots.
 
It is joyous and infectious, but it leaves one to wonder if it’s possible to stay alone.
 
“Hatched Ensemble” will be repeated at 8 p.m. tonight at PS 21 Center for Contemporary Performance, Route 66, Chatham.