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Mcebisi Bhayi

Above: Mcebisi performing in 'Tracing'. Photo by Foo Chiwei.

Mcebisi will be back at Rimbun Dahan from 1 to 20 September, and is available to teach workshops for an affordable fee! If anyone is interested in arranging more workshops in Afro-contemporary dance, please contact Bilqis Hijjas

20 excited dancers filled the dance studio at Rimbun Dahan last weekend, to take part in Mcebisi's Afro-contemporary dance workshop. It was an exhausting high-energy romp of furiously contracting rib-cages, cat-like leaps, and endless sequences. Mcebisi's constant cheery exhortations -- "Keep on pouncing!" -- and fantastic accompaniment on the drums by Rimbun Dahan resident artist Justin Lim made it an experience to remember.

Afro-Contemporary dance combines the spirit and technique of African, Afro-Caribbean, Afro-Brazilian and Contemporary dance styles. It is a grounded, rhythmic dance form with movements originating from the pelvis and core.

All photos below by Foo Chiwei. Click on the thumbnails to view larger images.

South African dancer and choreographer Mcebisi Bhayi is currently in Malaysia as a resident artist at Rimbun Dahan, in collaboration with Singaporean choreographer Joey Chua. Earlier this month, Chua and Bhayi gave a work-in-progress showing of their new work 'Tracing -- Dance Dialogues in Singapore and South Africa', an exploration of childhood memories from two very different cultures. Chua and Bhayi will continue on to a residency in Hong Kong, followed by a performance at Singapore Esplanade's dan:s festival. Their finished work will premiere at the FNB Dance Umbrella 2009, a major dance festival in South Africa.

Bhayi was one of the three finalists of the Shell Road to Fame Talent Search in Johannesburg in 1995. In 1999 he participated in the Community Dance Teachers Training Programme at Moving Into Dance. Bhayi was a nominee for Most Promising Male Dancer in Contemporary Style at the FNB Dance Umbrella in Johannesburg in 2001. In 2002, Bhayi won the Peak of the Stepping Stones Award. He attended the FNB Dance Umbrella Young Choreographers' Residency in 2007 and 2008. His works 'Free Us Now' and 'Muntu' were featured in FNB Dance Umbrella in 2007. He recently attended the Young Choreographers' Residency in Senegal in March-June 2008. He performed in Gregory Maqoma's 'Skeleton Dry' at FNB Dance Umbrella in 2008.

Last updated 23 August 2008.

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