Kampnagel sommerfestival logo anschnitt 4c
In front of a large projection screen glowing in shades of red, the dark silhouette of a performer emerges, with a black disc hovering above him.
© Philip Frowein
In front of a large projection screen glowing in shades of red, the dark silhouette of a performer emerges, with a black disc hovering above him.
© Philip Frowein

Jeremy Nedd / Impilo Mapantusla

How A Falling Star Lit Up The Purple Sky...

John Wayne-Who? Shooting star Jeremy Nedd combines the figure of the Black Cowboy with the dance dynamics of the South African Pantsula.

Tickets:

24 / 14 Euro (conc. from 9 Euro, 50% conc. with Festivalkarte)

Past dates

Archive

Thursday

8/18/22

7:00 PM

Archive

Friday

8/19/22

7:00 PM

Archive

Saturday

8/20/22

7:00 PM

With THE ECSTATIC, Jeremy Nedd and Impilo Mapantsula brought the dance of the South African subculture Pantsula to international stages, earning standing ovations and invitations all over Europe. Pantsula is not simply dance, but an urban lifestyle and form of expression that emerged in the Black townships during apartheid. With virtuoso footwork and fashionable cool, it still expressively comments on South African conditions. Jeremy Nedd’s brand new work now explores the Western, Hollywood’s most whitewashed genre (movie special). The US-American, Basel-based choreographer and Impilo Mapantsula relate the Western’s iconography of the white hero and the supposedly wild West to the history of South Africa, its land reforms and property relations, and cover it with the rich Pantsula culture (dramaturgy: Anta Helena Recke). At a time when stars like Little Nas X or Solange reinscribe the Black Cowboy into pop culture, HOW A FALLING STAR LIT UP THE PURPLE SKY... expands it with perspectives from the global South in an energetic choreography that will shake up the Kampnagel stage.

In a white stage space, six dancers gather in the center of the image, all engaged in expressive movements. Above everything hovers a black disc, on the right sits a black dancer in cowboy outfit and legs extended by stilts.
© Philip Frowein
A black dancer in a cowboy outfit reaches up with a serious face to touch a flat white disc, everything is bathed in deep blue light.
© Philip Frowein
Back view of a dancer in a beige suit with a slider cap, who has his right leg and left arm stretched backwards and upwards respectively, in the background white fabric panels.
© Philip Frowein
Close-up of several dancers facing each other in two rows, in the back the silhouettes of gesticulating hands are very present, further in front a cowboy hat is passed to the center.
© Philip Frowein

Concept & Choreography: Jeremy Nedd Performance & Choreography: Sicelo Xaba, Vusi Mdoyi, Sello Modiga, Thomas Motsapi, Sonakele Masethi, Kgotsofalang Moshe, Vuyani Feni, Sibongile Mathebula, Elma Motloenya Technical Direction & Light Design: Thomas Giger Stage Design: Laura Knüsel Sound Design: Fabrizio Di Salvo, Rej Deproc Musical Consultation: Brandy Butler Costume: Rosa Birkedal Dramaturgy: Anta Helena Recke Production Management: Regula Schelling Production Assistance: Kihako Narisawa, Juliana Simonetti Management: produktionsDOCK

COPRODUCTION Kampnagel International Summer Festival, Kaserne Basel, Arsenic - Contemporary Performing Arts Center Lausanne, Wiesbaden Biennale, The Centre for the Less Good Idea Johannesburg

FUNDED BY Fachausschuss Tanz & Theater BS/BL, Pro Helvetia, Schweizer Kulturstiftung, SüdKulturFonds, Stanley Thomas Johnson Stiftung, Kulturfonds der Société Suisse des Auteurs (SSA), GGG Basel, Jacqueline Spengler Stiftung, Scheidegger-Thommen-Stiftung, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung