Review: Hatched - Mamela Nyamza 28 October 2011

A stage flooded with red cloth. The bare back of a body assaults us. Washing is hung out and the body places a bucket upon its bald head. Cautiously, the body rises up onto pointe shoes previously concealed.

Is this a body of Western or African origin? Is this body male or female? Finally the body turns…

Identity is the key theme in Mamela Nyamza’s Hatched, which closed the penultimate evening of this year’s Dance Umbrella. An autobiographical work, Hatched tells the story of a woman faced with a life of dualism: she is a South African performing in the UK, but also a dancer who is a mother.

Nyamza is a woman battling with anxieties about domesticity. She flits and falters about the stage, intermittently scrubbing the floor and rearranging clothes. Her son lounges under a desk, initially covered by a giant red cloth, as if still enclosed within the safety of her womb. He barely notices her. But, as she potters about, her movement is peppered with moments of miniaturised ballet, performed with frantic, joyful release. Nyamza is battling with her new identity as a mother, while still clinging on to her life as a performer.

However, Nyamza faces another conflict, as a South African performing in the West. Nyamza addresses this by juxtaposing movement vocabulary and accompaniment from both cultures, referencing both classical Western music and dance, and also traditional African vocal scores and grounded movement.

Hatched is a sequel to Nyamza’s previous work Hatch, where she explored the changes in her life with the birth of her son. Moving on, Nyamza has created a poignant story that speaks to anyone who has ever felt a conflict with their own identity and questioned where they belong in the world.

Image: Photographer- Val Anderson