International Theatre Institute World Organization for the Performing Arts Message for International Dance Day 2020 by Gregory Vujani Makoma 29 April 2020

Gregory Vuyani Makoma, dancer, actor, choreographer and dance teacher from South Africa

During an interview I recently gave, I had to think deeper about dance, what does it mean to me? In answering, I had to take a deeper look into my journey, and realised that it has always been a goal and every day is a new challenge to face, and it is through dance that I try to make sense of the world. We are going through unimaginable tragedies, in a time that I would most accurately describe as the era of post-humanism.

More than ever we need to dance with a purpose, to remind the world that humanity still exists. Purpose and empathy must prevail for years and years over the undeniable virtual dominion of destruction that has birthed the catharsis of widespread suffering, the overwhelming sadness, the harsh reality that continues to permeate the living against which death, marginalization, and poverty are pitted.

Our dance, more than ever, must send a strong message to world leaders and those entrusted with security and improving living conditions that we are an army of angry thinkers, and our goal is the quest to change the world one step at a time. Dance is freedom, and through our acquired freedom, we must liberate others from the lurking traps in different corners of the world. Dance is not political, but it becomes political because it carries within its fabric the human connection and therefore responds to circumstances in its attempt to revive human dignity.

Dancing with our bodies, encountering space and embracing together, we become a moving force that intertwines hearts, touches souls and provides the healing we so desperately need. And the goal becomes a one-headed hydra, an invincible and indivisible dance. All we need now is more dancing!

Gregory Vujani MACOMA dancer, choreographer, actor, dance teacher

Gregory Vuyani Makoma became interested in dance art in the late 1980s as a way to overcome the growing political tensions in South Africa. She began her dance training in 1990 at Movement in Dance, where she graduated in 2002 as an Artistic Assistant Director. Makoma established himself as an internationally acclaimed dancer, choreographer, teacher and director. She founded the Vujani Dance Theatre in 1999, when she began her research work at the School of Training and Research in Performing Arts in Belgium under the direction of Anne Therese De Keersmaeker.

Makomo has received acclaim for his collaborative work with artists of his generation such as Akram Kahn, Vincent Mantsoe, Fostine Linekula, Dada Masilo, Chanel Winlock, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Nhlanhla, Mahlangu and theatre director James Ngcobo.

Several works from his repertoire have won international acclaim and admiration. These include Choreographer of the Year by First National Bank in 1999, 2001 and 2002 for Rhythm 1.2.3, Rhythmic Blues and Southern Comfort respectively. She won the Standard Bank Young Artist in Dance Award in 2002. Makoma was a finalist for the Daimler Chrysler Choreography Award in 2002 and the Rolex Mentorship Program in 2003. He was the recipient of the Tunkey Award for Dance Arts Leadership in 2012. In 2014, he received the Bessie Award, New York's highest honor for dance, for the production of Leaving/Existence for an original musical composition. He participated as a nominating member in the 2016-2017 Rolex Arts Initiative and curated the Main Dance Program at the 2017 National Arts Festival. His current works, Via Canana and Zion: Requiem from Ravel's Bolero, are currently on tour in Africa and Europe.

In 2017, Makoma was honored by the French government as a Knight of Arts and Letters. In 2018 he was awarded the first Usiba Award by the South African Department of Arts and Culture for his dedication to dance education. In 2018, Makoma was one of the selected visiting artists at the Faculty of Dance at the Virginia Commonwealth University, as well as a visiting lecturer at the De Sable School - Tobab Dialou - Senegal. Makoma is a member of the selection committee for the Biennale de Danse Africa Festival to be held in Marrakech in 2020.

In 2018 Makoma collaborated with William Kentrich as choreographer and performer in Kentrich's opera The Head and the Load, which premiered at the Tate Modern Gallery in London in July and has been performed in Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and New York.

In 2019 Makoma collaborates with Idris Elba and Kwame Kwei-Armah in a production of The Tree, produced by Manchester International Festival and the Young Vic Theatre.