Gula

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A revelation of the choreographer Vincent S. K. Mantsoe for international audiences, the piece “Gula” initially battled it out for the FNB VITA Choreography Award in South Africa before winning, in its longer version entitled “Gula Matari”, first prize at the 1ères rencontres chorégraphiques de l’Afrique et de l’Océan Indien (first Africa and Indian Ocean choreographic encounters) organised in Luanda (Angola) in 1996. The following year, this same version won Vincent S. K. Mantsoe the Conseil général de Seine-Saint-Denis’ Author’s Prize at the 5e rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis (fifth Seine-Saint-Denis International Choreographic Encounters) (France).

Originally performed by Sylvia Glasser’s company Moving into Dance, the work draws its inspiration from Vincent Mantsoe’s culture. In two parts, it narrates the mimetic relation between a man and a bird: “the title of work tells us about a small bird attracted to the flight of a larger bird. In many stories, in every culture, man has identified himself with the bird, a symbol of immateriality, occult knowledge and immortality. Mantsoe performs the solo in the first part, embodying the approach of the bird of the savannahs, its spiritual hunting and the mimetic learning process of metamorphosis. (…) The solo ends with the fusion of dance and its ethereal principle. (…) The second part reunites the dancers for the identification and the take-off. The ancestors watch over the universal soul and the bird prepares to cross the three sacred circles. Then the troop gathers to form the parts of the matari (…)” [1].

“Gula” is still part of the repertoire of Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe’s company today and is frequently performed in its solo version.

[1] H. Haddad, “La danse en dix-neuf mondes et quelques recoupements”, in La Danse dans le monde: The 5e Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis 1996 – Centre international de Bagnolet pour les œuvres chorégraphiques, Seine-Saint-Denis, Paris: les Belles lettres, 1997, pp. 47-48.

Press reviews

“In “Gula Matari”, developed from his solo “Gula”, the choreographer Vincent Mantsoe (24), also an extremely talented dancer (…) has created a work of great delicacy, danced partly to live whistles imitating birdsong. It is far from the stereotype that would like to restrict African dance to a single gesture of stamping on the ground. If the group choreography sometimes suffers from an excessive, almost military, unison, the complex solo exudes a subtle poetry where you can see the trembling of the wounded bird, its flight, and its fears. The prize is well deserved”

Source: Marie-Christine Vernay, “Les 1ères Rencontres de création chorégraphique africaine à Luanda” (“The 1st African Choreographic Encounters Luanda”), Libération, 23 November 1995 (article originally in French translated in English

“From its first version in Luanda in 1995, “Gula Matari” by the South-African Vincent Sekwati Koko Mantsoe proved that when a piece is good, it gains everyone’s support. With a very effective soundtrack, dominated by the cries of birds, it combines three components from the outset: traditional African dance, urban dance and Western ballet. It was short and spectacular, with a solo brilliantly executed by the choreographer. The references to African rituals, which play a significant part in the work of the artist, have escaped the majority of Western observers however.”

Source: Salia Sanou, “Afrique danse contemporaine”, under the direction of Dominique Frétard, Pantin: Centre national de la danse, 2008, p. 69 (text originally in French  translated in English).

Updating: September 2013