A powerful tribute to the Rickshaw drivers of apartheid South Africa.
Robyn Orlin’s We Wear Our Wheels with Pride is a striking piece of multimedia performance commemorating the artistry and strength of South Africa’s Rickshaw drivers. These drivers would work around Durban’s beachfront promenades during the apartheid, often transporting white tourists. The piece was performed in collaboration with and by Moving Into Dance Mophatong and was part of Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels Festival, playing at the Southbank Centre’s Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Primarily expressed through the medium of music and dance, the show captured the true meaning of ensemble might, with every dancer performing with attuned coordination and evocative and expressive physicality. Moving Into Dance Mophatong, comprised of Sunnyboy Motau, Oscar Buthelezi, Eugene Mashiane, Lesego Dihemo, Sbusiso Gumede and Teboho Letele, were able to blend their voices and move as one strikingly, yet at other points completely filled the stage with energy during their solo dances. Their contagious energy even infected the audience, as the piece was not just interactive, but participatory, with the audience often invited to join in on hand movements and keeping the rhythm.
Anelisa Stuurma astonished with her vocal dynamics, effortlessly switching between vocal styles and resonances with Yogin Sullaphen to provide the musicality for the show. Sullaphen should be especially commended for expertly composing with a wide range of live instrumentation, influenced by slam and Khoisan tradition, which when blended with more modern styles created a distinctive toe-tapping sound.
The innovative music was paired perfectly with the experimental use of live imaging and video by Eric Perroys, which drew focus to what the performers were doing and challenged our point of view. The otherwise minimal set – with just soft drink cans to signify different Rickshaw personas – was filled with emphatic lighting by Romain de Lagarde
that effectively played with light and shadow, and thus let the projections become the centrepiece. I found that the use of imaging seemed to connect the past and the present, and created a sense of intimacy where we could see individual facial expressions.
The performance was a powerful tribute to an under-acknowledged piece of South African history, and performed in a fitting medium. The choreography particularly acknowledged the resilience, individuality and showmanship of the Rickshaws. Through their personification and Birgit Neppl’s excellent costume design, it captured the essence of every Rickshaw and populated the stage with vivacious colour.
Ultimately, the piece’s strength was its commitment primarily to non-verbal expression, as though it was sometimes punctuated with spoken Zulu, English was used very sparingly. This helped to capture the spirit of the Rickshaws, an uncompromising testament to them and thus to the resilience of Zulu people under apartheid. An incredible piece of physical theatre.