Newsflash for the sceptics: white men (and not just Johnny Clegg and Ian von Memerty) can dance - with real rhythm.
And black men can be spiritually ethereal without being unAfrican.
Fragile is the word choreographer Gregory Maqoma prefers to describe the delicately nuanced beauty of his movement vocabulary for the all-male Skeleton Dry and the opening movement of 3 Colours.
In fact, that tiresome debate about what is African (enough) or South African was inflamed yet again (in officialdom) because of 3 Colours, Maqoma's collaboration with director Brett Bailey for the opening of the World Summit on Arts and Culture last month.
In the first sequence ritualistically painted black bodies (including ballet dancer Thoriso Mangongwa and the choreographer), swathed in white wisps of time, lyrically fluttered against skyscrapers and projections of flying birds.
This aesthetic chimera evolved into heavily layered meaning about cultural hierarchies and histories in interaction with a rich score played and sung by African musicians on a variety of instruments. Tradition and modernity meshed in a fiesta of post-modernity which happened to be African.
That same week at the Dance Factory (if only arts and culture minister Lulu Xingwana and her entourage were there) a much smaller (also racially mixed), wildly appreciative audience supported the opening night of Ripped.
This triple-bill, performed by Kelsey Middleton's (predominantly Afrikaans-speaking) Pretoria Company KMad.Com, opened with a revival of Christopher Kindo's classic Me and You.
Created for Free Flight Dance Company in the early '90s, this artistic manifesto reflecting the choreographer's West African and Asian ancestral roots in tandem with his training as a Cape Town ballet, jazz and contemporary dancer, remains terribly demanding.
There are no short cuts to Zakir Hussain's infectious tabla percussion whisked in with flutes, guitar and saxophone. The dancers in the very fast solos, duets and ensembles have to be simultaneously steeped in Indian, African and Western (ballet and contemporary) techniques, while expressing their own energies and identities.
Not easy to perfect, but Martin van Heerden (who doesn't let his beefy blondness get in the way of his virtuoso South-Africaness), Laura-Jean de Vries and Kim McCusker came close to matching the original mix masala ethos.
The sleek dreadlocked guest dancer and choreographer Supa Zungu joined in, but it was in his Ripped, a showy Afro-jazzy collage that he excelled. What's more, the K.Mad Company matched his earthy rhythms, raw physicality and rigorous torso undulation, performed to superb live drumming by very young percussionists.
The sense of ownership of every African move and motif was palpable. These historically privileged South Africans have firsthand experience of tragedy and loss.
In April 2008, fellow dancer Esteé van Rensburg (19) was murdered by a security guard in her parents' home. That doesn't stop the dancers from defiantly embracing their broader heritage and joining Zungu in "bridging the gap between the past and our future. We are ripped from the soil, ripped from our roots and our generation is rising".
And it is colour blind.
lOn Saturday night barefoot dancers and five musicians continued to bust festering ethnic stereotypes and prototypes outdoors at the Apartheid Museum as Maqoma's Vuyani Dance Theatre celebrated its 10th birthday.
In the moonlight 10 VDT trainees joined newly appointed artistic director Melusi Mkhanjane, Mcebisi Bhayi, Mandla Mathonsi, Shawn Mothupi and Sibusiso Ngcobo in a reconfigured Skeleton Dry.
Unlike the stage version, nothing separated the composer musicians (on cello, violin, percussion) and vocalist/flautist Julian Abrahams from the barefoot white-clad figures billowing in the dusty wind.
The mobile men's sinuous elegance and elegiac grace were saluted by a bird which flew into the illuminated aesthetic savannah.
The harsh Johannesburg skyline erupted with Diwali fireworks, but nothing (not even a helicopter buzzing overhead) could detract from African poets in motion as they sanctified the resonating landscape and history surrounding them.
Dance diary
- Cats (Montecasino Teatro, Joburg, until November 22. Artscape Opera, Cape Town, from November 29). The show that kick-started the Broadway- quality South African musical theatre industry nine years ago is back, providing actor-singer-dancers work and audiences fresh memories.
- SwingTime at the Ballet ( Baxter Theatre, Cape Town, from tomorrow to October 17). Sean Bovim's 2003 hit for Cape Town City Ballet is extended for his new company Bovim Ballet. The Big Band era meets 1930's Broadway in pointe shoes.
- Cape Dance Co (Dance Factory, Johannesburg, Friday at 7.30pm; Saturday: 2pm and 6pm; Sunday: 2pm). Debbie Turner's dancers make their Johannesburg debut with a bouquet of choreography by Adele Blank, Kitty Phetla, Mamela Nyamza, Sbo Ndaba, Gregory Maqoma and Michael Thomas (US).
- Carmen (Vodaworld, Johannesburg, October 15 to 25): Mzansi Productions premieres choreographer Timothy le Roux's version of this classic, now set in Joburg. Expect Spanish dance, full-on classical ballet, neo classical hijinks, contemporary dance and soccer balls!
- Body of Evidence (New Stages: Playhouse Drama Theatre, October 15 to 17 at 7pm) Durban's well travelled Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre brings homes Jay Pather's powerful multimedia work which was a highlight of the 2008
- partly god (Artscape Theatre, October 16 to 25): Acclaimed theatre director Lara Foot Newton collaborates with Jazzart Dance Theatre choreographers Ina Wichterich, Ananda Fuchs, Sbonakaliso Ndaba, John Linden (under the direction of Alfred Hinkel) and composer/performer Neo Muyanga.
- Romeo and Juliet (Baxter Theatre, October 27 to 31). Dada Masilo, the 2008 Standard Bank Young artist for Dance, stars as Juliet in her take on Shakespeare's tragedy performed by The Dance Factory
- The Nutcracker (Baxter Theatre: November 4 to 7. The Lyric Theatre, Gold Reef City, and Johannesburg: November 26 to 29, December 1 to 6): Mzansi Productions revives its South African treatment of the ballet classic, using the Tchaikovsky score, co-choreographed by Adele Blank and David Gouldie and designed by Andrew Botha. Book at Computicket.