more love for Mamela
Jan. 20th, 2009 12:31 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonI 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.
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.
