Nondumiso Msimanga
It’s often said that there are no new stories and that history is a repetitious shadow. So when a young choreographer says she wants “to tell stories”, it is easy to feel unmoved.
However, when Lulu Mlangeni ( pictured) speaks about her first venture into choreography with Page 27, it is with stars in her eyes. As the winner of the Sophie Mgcina Best Emerging Voice Award at last year’s Naledi Awards, she will be staging her own “story” at the Market Theatre.
As a senior dancer and now, rehearsal director at Vuyani Dance Company (VDC), she feels that Gregory Maqoma and Luyanda Sidiya (the choreographers at the helm of VDC) have been preparing her for this development. Sidiya, the Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance 2015, is her mentor. Mlangeni is disbelieving of her latest accolade even as she touts: “Failure is not an option.”
As someone who has “failed” before, she is determined to defy the world’s historical skepticism by using her fears to lay solid foundations for the future. She was 15 or 16, she says, when she decided to pursue dance as a career; although not without doubts. She periodically questions her place in this industry, but always finds that the answer is to keep pushing forward.
She auditioned at the National School of the Arts as a youngster and when she was rejected she thought, ‘that is going to kill my passion’. Fear nearly stopped her from auditioning for So You Think You Can Dance in 2010 – which she then won – but for her mother telling her to go even though she had no music or a solo prepared. She stood out because she danced from the heart. She smiles at history when she pages through her life’s text to recall her first viewing of a show at Dance Umbrella: “I got out of the theatre and you know when you feel like you want to do something right there and then. I danced the whole night.”
The piece she now choreographs uses incidents from her life to shine a light on the shadow of history by asking questions. The enquiry is about the causes of the fear of loss and what makes us cruel? It is a double-bill that journeys from a self-performed solo, remembering women such as Sophie Mgcina (Laurence Olivier Award- nominated actress and activist) and ordinary heroes like mothers and grandmothers. The second part of Mlangeni’s titular book is an ensemble performed by VDC where the only prop used, leaves, is as a page from her 27 years. She physically asks: What is it that creates fear?
The award has allowed her to finally pursue a dream. “I have thought of choreography, but you know what fear does to one. It holds you back. I hope that whatever I’m doing, I’m paving the way for young women out there.”