more love for Mamela

[alonewiththemoon]

I previously thought that Mamela Nyamza's piece about a Xhosa woman trapped in her marriage/culture was the best thing I had seen on Superstars of Dance, but her Dying Swan tonight was astonishing and breathtaking and a truly amazing work of fusion between ballet and African dance forms.  She danced to a traditional classical recording, but accompanied by djembe drums, merging the classical and the drums in her body.  On top of that, she mimicked a bird's movements so elegantly that you could almost see the feathers wave across her body.  Many of the other performers have been good or even excellent, but in both of her performances I felt like I was looking into a woman's soul.  The photo below the cut is from the choreography, though in the show tonight she wore a snow white tutu that was an amazing contrast to her warm ebony skin:





She started that movement from a half-crouch, supporting leg bent, other leg just brushing the floor, then lifted the raised leg, slowly swiveled her hips to perpendicular to the floor and raised the lifted leg to vertical, ever so slowly and deliberately.  It was astonishing.

Here's another beautiful photo of her for good measure:




I'd say the judges were on crack when they watched her tonight, either that or they had decided that they'd already rewarded her for pushing the envelope and now she needed to conform.  Most of what I've seen on the show has been entertaining enough but largely forgettable.  I won't forget Mamela Nyamza.

Dancer crush much?  Yeah, I'd say so :-)


I still think they are giving the Shaolin monks an enormous free pass.  If dancers are being busted for not dancing enough, why are they consistently getting such high marks?  What they do is amazing, no doubt about it, but I still have a hard time seeing it as dance.
 

Comments

[meddevi.livejournal.com]

I haven't watched the show, never seem to have caught it until tonight, where I came in before the duets started. And then I saw the Russian couple, whose dancing was alright, but OMFG, the "magic" costume changes! I want to see the piece you're talking about, hopefully on youtube soon?

[alonewiththemoon]

Those costume changes were pretty amazing!

I'll keep my eye open for YouTube stuff...

[frankensplean.livejournal.com]

i was reading your entry title and thinking you were emulating a loving Jewish daughter. :P

[goat.livejournal.com]

I've been watching this show every week on NBC Video Rewind, so I'm a bit behind...

I really disagree with what they did with Mamela. First off, the cameramen seemed more interested in the audience's reaction to her. That seemed incredibly disrespectful of her dancing, but also I wanted to see her, not some random people gaping in the audience!

And grrr at the judge's for either not getting what she's doing, or going for what's most crowd pleasing in this case. I would say she was definitely better than the soloists from India or the US (can't remember the top scorer at the moment).

I agree with you about the Shaolin Monks. Even if it is viewed as a dance form rather than a martial art, it is pretty sloppy, even if it is high energy and the little kids are cute.