Rain dance in the Park

It’s around 14h00 on a Friday and Zoo Park is filled with its eternal array of the late and the languishing. The heat is oppressive, the wind whips around in vain and the sun strikes everyone with an ennui that makes them struggle to see that someone has started dancing.

Not wildly, not to music. Just in a rhythm that isn’t walking or waiting or being spread out on the grass.

Tuli Shityuwete and Haymich Olivier of First Rain Dance Theatre (FRDT) look a little crazed. They dance and burn with an inner light that soon turns faces towards them and causes a crowd of people to inch closer in tentative clusters as they dance to nothing and for nothing other than for themselves and the people who can see their way to immersing themselves in their art.

Shityuwete calls it a social experiment. She says that she and Haymich had gotten so caught up in the politics of trying to be an artist in Windhoek that they had forgotten about the simple beauty and power they feel when they just dance.

“We just want to dance and we want to share what we do with our countrymen,” says Tuli.

“We wanted to see what the reaction to something a little different would be from the general public. Street art is a fantastic way to bring art to the people. It’s a beautiful form of communication and it just brings colour to the streets of Windhoek. We would love to keep doing this and bring in other artists to take part with us.”

Artists that did take part with them were FRDT’s main company dancer, Grant Edem, musicians Pablo Gilolmo and Tapuwanashe Munyayi as well as the FRDT burlesque crew who Tuli describes as wonderful, dedicated dancers that she is very excited about training.

Determined to work with City of Windhoek to bring art to public spaces, Tuli and Haymich will essentially be teaching the public to appreciate improvisation and pop-up performances as they embark on a series of surprise presentations happening at undisclosed locations around the city.

“Getting permission to perform at Zoo Park is slightly complicated as you need to go through both the City of Windhoek and Omalaeti Media Group who own the rights to the space, says Tuli. But everyone I spoke to was very helpful. I won’t reveal where we will perform or when we will pop up, it will just be pure luck and chance but I hope you catch us!”

For those wondering why the bother, it is simply because art is essential and too often absent from the everyman’s life.

“I think that a lot of the time art can be a little inaccessible and in Windhoek you normally get the same people going to the same shows, performances and exhibitions,” says Tuli. “I commend those people and I am one of them but I think that in order for the arts to be sustainable we need to reach further. If you can’t take Mohammed to the mountain, bring the mountain to Mohammed!

Find First Rain Dance Theatre on Facebook and, if you happen to be at one of their surprise performances, they appreciate photos, videos, posts and tags to let them know what you thought. Watch out for them in the next few weeks but more importantly stay. And watch.

martha@namibian.com.na