In The Ecstatic, six pantsula dancers from the collective Impilo Mapantsula tap their feet to a sustained rhythm in a dynamic set of moves. Jeremy Nedd takes the dance style of pantsula with its frenetic footwork that emerged in the townships of Johannesburg in the 1960s and combines it with praise break, a form of sung and danced praise in Pentecostal churches in the United States that produces a trance-like state.
Pantsula is a historically significant South African subculture. Expressed not only as a powerful dance form which is well known for it’s high-speed virtuosic footwork, but also evident through a dress code, language, music, and a particular philosophy of life that is all it’s own. An expression that during Apartheid gave a voice to a whole generation.
Praise Break, a mode of praise. A moment… a pause… a break in the context of the Christian Pentecostal Church service, where the dancing body, voice and music energetically coalesce and as a result blur the difference between ecstatic and cathartic.
What happens when the aesthetics of these two worlds converge? What happens in this transcendental moment of “break”. Six Pantsula dancers turn to the motions that lead up to the praise break in order to find out, and “break open” a new space all their own. “The Ecstatic” invites us to question the links between religion, colonial histories and black corporalities.
Concept/Choreography: Jeremy Nedd & Impilo Mapantsula
Performance/Choreography: Lungile Ngwenya, Tommy Tee Motsapi, Bonakele Mambotjie Masethi,
Sicelo Malume ka Xaba, Sello Zilo Midiga, Vusi 2.2 Mdoyi
Kgotsofalang Moshe Mavundla (original cast member)
Technic and light: Thomas Giger
Stage: Laura Knüsel
Music/Composition: Xzavier Stone & Modulaw
Audiodesign: Fabrizio Di Salvo
Diffusion: ART HAPPENS
Head of production Switzerland: Ursula Haas
Head of production South Africa: Daniela Goeller
Dramaturgy: Anta Helena Recke
Production assistance: Kihako Narisawa, Lucas Del Rio Estevez
Outside Eye: Deborah Joyce Holman, Maximilian Hanisch
Co-production: Kaserne Basel, Arsenic Lausanne, Theater Tuchlaube Aarau
Supported by Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater BS/BL, Südkulturfonds, Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung, Migros Kulturprozent, Ernst Göhner Stiftung, Stanley Thomas Johnson Stiftung, Jacqueline Spengler-Stiftung, Schweizer Interpretenstiftung, Wilhelm and Ida Hertner-Strasser Stiftung
| Date | Spectacle | Ville Pays | Organisation/Lieu |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18.10.2023 | The Ecstatic | Charleroi (be) | Biennale de la danse Charleroi |
| 10.10.2023 | The Ecstatic | Antwerp (be) | DE SINGEL |
| 09.10.2023 | The Ecstatic | Antwerp (be) | DE SINGEL |
| 24.09.2023 | The Ecstatic | São Paulo (br) | SESC São Paulo |
| 23.09.2023 | The Ecstatic | São Paulo (br) | SESC São Paulo |
| 14.06.2023 | The Ecstatic | Seine-Saint-Denis (fr) | Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis |
| 07.06.2023 | The Ecstatic | Ghent (be) | VIERNULVIER |
| 27.05.2023 | The Ecstatic | Berlin (de) | Sophiensaele |
| 26.05.2023 | The Ecstatic | Berlin (de) | Sophiensaele |
| 25.05.2023 | The Ecstatic | Berlin (de) | Sophiensaele |
| 15.07.2022 | The Ecstatic | Kigali (rw) | Ubumuntu Arts Festival |
| 09.07.2022 | The Ecstatic | Gabarone (bw) | Maitisong |
| 05.02.2022 | The Ecstatic | Zurich (ch) | Swiss Dance Days |
| 04.02.2022 | The Ecstatic | Zurich (ch) | Swiss Dance Days |
| 30.10.2019 | The Ecstatic | Munich (de) | Theaterfestival Spielart |
| 29.10.2019 | The Ecstatic | Munich (de) | Theaterfestival Spielart |
| 19.05.2019 | The Ecstatic | Lausanne (ch) | Arsenic |
| 18.05.2019 | The Ecstatic | Lausanne (ch) | Arsenic |
| 17.05.2019 | The Ecstatic | Lausanne (ch) | Arsenic |
| 16.05.2019 | The Ecstatic | Lausanne (ch) | Arsenic |
| 08.05.2019 | The Ecstatic (premiere) | Basel (ch) | Kaserne |
| 07.05.2019 | The Ecstatic (premiere) | Basel (ch) | Kaserne |
| 06.05.2019 | The Ecstatic (premiere) | Basel (ch) | Kaserne |
| 05.05.2019 | The Ecstatic (premiere) | Basel (ch) | Kaserne |