Junction

Choreography: Alfred Hinkel, Dawn Langdown & John Linden
Design: Penny Simpson
Music composed by: René Avenant
Original performers: Heinrich Reisenhofer, Ashley Abrahams,
Sbonakaliso Ndaba, Sifiso Kweyama, Ananda Fuchs,
Ondine Bello & Sandile Mbili

AWARDS
1996/1997 – FNB Vita Award for Best Contemporary Choreography
1996/1997 – FNB Vita Award for Most Promising Dancer – Sandile Mbili
2002 – FNB Vita Award for Best Choreography
2002 – FNB Vita Award for Most Outstanding Presentation of an Original Contemporary Dance Work
2002 – FNB Vita Award for Most Outstanding Presentation of an Ensemble Cast
2002 – FNB Vita Award for Most Outstanding Performance by a Male Dancer in Contemporary Style

  • Nico Theatre, Cape Town: September 1996
  • The Natal Playhouse: January 1997
  • MASA Arts Market, Abidjan, Ivory Coast: March 1997
  • Standard Bank National Arts Festival, Grahamstown: July 1997
  • Cape Town (Beyond the Borders): July 2000
  • Johannesburg, Dance Factory, Newtown Cultural Precinct
    for the World Summit on Sustainable Development: Sept 2002
  • Johannesburg, FNB Vita Dance Umbrella: February to March 2003
  • Danscape: 2003 (by first year trainees of the Young Adult Training
    and Job Creation Programme)
  • Northern Cape, the Richtersveld Land Settlement Celebration: 2007At every crossroads, every meeting point of two bodies, there is the potential for something new … each encounter becomes a creative challenge, an opportunity to extend the human body and spirit beyond the limits of time and space – and to find a way forward to the next junction.

Hinkel says the piece is about the universe and creation. “We all come from one source. South Africa is a nation that dances. We’re a physical people.”

He conceived Junction because he was perturbed by the misconceptions some of the company’s black dancers had about themselves while doing The Sun, the Moon and the Knife. “This is a sketch about the universe. When you have been deprived of a thorough education, it’s very difficult to comprehend things that are bigger than you and the fact that no race is superior to another, or more intelligent, or gifted,” he said.

“Every time we did it, we reworked it and changed it drastically. They danced on a big fibreglass ball – for the original piece we could only find a white male (Heinrich Reisenhofer) to dominate the ball. Heinrich created the choreography but thereafter it was always a black woman in that role.”

Elements of this creation myth have been evident since Junction was first choreographed, but it became stronger as a theme as the piece evolved, particularly after the Grahamstown performance.

“… the essence of the concept of Junction is that it runs off symbiotic energies and rhythmic connection that is central to traditional and urban African dance. Torso undulations, body weaves and Zulu indlamu stamps and flick kicks are integrally fused and distilled with Western contemporary dance dynamics. A huge globe becomes a partner in the rolls, leaps and falls. The creative syndicate of Hinkel, Langdown and Linden attempt, and largely succeed, in rearranging the choreographic cosmos aided by René Avenant’s commissioned electronic score.”

Adrienne Sichel, The Star Tonight, Wednesday, September 25, 1996

“Junction is heavily loaded with symbolism – one of the most significant and overriding themes being the celebration of the unfamiliar, the breaking of new ground… ” Marc Devenish, reviewer

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