THE Artscape Theatre will next month play host to Cape Town City Ballet’s (CTCB) spring production, a triple bill titled Satori (Japanese for “sudden enlightenment”), showcasing three works, two of which are new and commissioned specially for the company.
Celebrated UK choreographer Kenneth Tindall will create one as-yet-untitled work, and local choreographer Michelle Reid is staging the other - her first for the CTCB, with the intriguing name of Sheeple.
Described as a national treasure, Reid is known for her inventive, quirky dance style which in 2018 won her the award for best choreography at the New Prague Dance Festival.
Her decades-long association with Debbie Turner’s Capa (Cape Academy of Performing Arts) and CDC (Cape Dance Company) companies has enabled Cape Town’s dance-lovers to view her work on many an occasion.
So it was just a matter of time before Turner, chief executive of CTCB, would commission a piece from this gifted servant of neo-classical dance.
Reid has never regretted her decision to switch from classical ballet to modern dance at the age of 13, on the recommendation of her teacher Charmaine Hodgkin.
A newly qualified diplomate of the International Dance Teachers’ Association, she ran her own studio, first in Constantia, then in Wynberg before spreading her wings to go to the US for two years.
Back in Cape Town, she produced her first original work, Spanish Train, commissioned by doyenne of ballet Diane Fincham.
Her prolific output staged in many a festival of dance in Grahamstown (now Makhanda) and at the Baxter.
“In 1990, Debbie invited me to choreograph a championship solo for her Cape Academy of Performing Arts, which I did - called Tweety Bird - and that was the launch of a most successful relationship between us.”
Her new work included in Satori has a strong vein of philosophy running through it. Sheeple, said Reid, rhymes with people, and is the term for unquestioning, easily-led crowds with the initiative of sheep.
“I started it at the end of last year for Capa, as a very large ensemble piece was required. Initially, it was short, not more than nine minutes, but Debbie wanted it developed into something more for the upcoming trilogy, so I’ve expanded it to double its original length.
“It’s divided into three sections: the first features co-operation essential to the functioning of society; the second, a sense of emerging identity as individuals try to break away from the group, only to be pulled back again; the third, bonding of people when confronted with conflict,” she explained.
“In the first part, the ensemble is a perfect unit, the music commissioned for the dance sounding like a big piece of smooth-running machinery in the third, two girls start the conflict and attract supporters to culminate in a war scene with militaristic music. The dancers look like little robots, mechanical toys, and they all end up taking selfies!
“The set will be minimalistic, with lighting key to creating ambience. ”
Satori opens at Artscape Opera House on October 26, and bookings are available through www.computicket.com.