The trauma that defines the indigenous population’s forced removal from Old Location as well as the enduring state of landlessness in independent Namibia is at the centre of ‘LAND’, a new contemporary dance production by acclaimed choreographer Haymich Olivier.
On show at the National Theatre of Namibia (NTN) from 2 to 4 October, ‘LAND’ marks Olivier’s return to producing his own work and is also a reimagining of the production which was first staged in 2018 as part of the Windhoek International Dance Festival.
“Land is an issue we’ve carried for generations. It’s an age-old conversation with many layers. But right now, across the world, it feels like everything is circling back to this question of land and who controls it,” says Olivier.
“We’re watching two major wars unfold in real time, and if you strip away the politics, the rhetoric, the headlines, at the core of it is still land. Ownership. Displacement. Power,” Olivier says.
“In Namibia, we’re still fighting to recover from an economic recession. The standard of living has dropped for many people. Rent is up. Fuel is up. And what we’re seeing is not just financial struggle, but a growing sense of disconnection,” says Olivier.
“Land issues are deeply ingrained in the segregated history of this country. They reflect so much about how we value land, labour and people. That’s why this story feels so urgent.”
In the years since Olivier co-choreographed the critically acclaimed ‘Anima’, performed ‘The Art of Broken Pieces’ at the Harare International Festival of the Arts, earned his master of fine arts at University of California, Los Angeles, and took up a lecturer post at Windhoek’s College of the Arts, ‘LAND’ has stayed with him.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about why I came back to ‘LAND’. There are several thoughts that brought me to this moment, but the biggest one has to do with the community I serve. Dancers,” says Olivier.
“Most of the dancers I work with are struggling to move forward with their lives. Not because they lack the drive or talent, but because of how high rent is. For many of them, most, if not all, of their salary goes straight to paying rent. That’s the reality,” Olivier says.
“And when your basic needs are under pressure, it’s very difficult to create, to dream, or to simply breathe. This reality has pushed me to relook at ‘LAND’, to make it more than just a performance, but a way of confronting some of the very real tensions we live with every day.”
Olivier says, as an artist, he wants his work to be about representation and the first community he feels he has a responsibility to are dancers and other artists, especially as the status of Namibian artists remains relatively stagnant.
To find the right combination of dance talent, Olivier hosted a two-day workshop. As a result of this process, ‘LAND’ features a dynamic troupe of Namibian performers including Gift Uzera, Justina Andreas, Treazurique Titus, Shashitwako Muteka, Lea-Liezer Ndeiluka, Roberto Meneguzzo, Sandile Mondlane, Bupe Chiwala and Maria Rengura.
“I don’t think we completely understand the potential of Namibian dancers. Namibian dance has shifted a lot over the last 15 years. New music genres have made social dance culture grow at a very rapid rate,” says Olivier.
“The vocabulary of these new styles is influenced by cultural dance movements that bring a distinct African and Namibian flair to the execution thereof. This, to me, is extremely exciting, because it grounds the identity of the performer more in an African dance language and less Western,” Olivier says.
“I do, however, think that the dance styles – as much as they are fun to watch and very musical – are still very on the surface of the potential for storytelling and exploring the body’s potential as a site for memory and resistance.”
As an abstract dance work drawing on the experiences of the choreographer, cast and Namibian society at large, ‘LAND’ will consider issues of land dispossession, memory and justice through a fusion of dance, archival sound, theatre and spoken word.
“There is so much that is coming for our country and the globe. We have still not resolved land issues and abstract space such as artificial intelligence and cyber reality is coming for us fast,” says Olivier.
“We need to participate actively in the world we want to create. I do believe dance is a way of being in the world with presence, persistence and grace.”
‘LAND’ is on at the National Theatre of Namibia from 2 to 4 October. Tickets are available online through Webtickets Namibia or at Model stores nationwide. For more information, visit: ntn.org.na.
– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com
