The First Physical Theatre Company, an affiliated project of Rhodes University’s Drama Department, will be showcasing two performances ahead of a tour to Cape Town.

Athina Vahla, an international choreographer, based in England and Greece, is currently visiting Rhodes University for a teaching and learning engagement with participating third-year and postgraduate drama students via the First Physical Theatre Company.

Vahla explained, “Using the simple hula-hoop as a toy, symbol and physical challenge, we use different routes to explore potential meanings where manifestations of private and public worlds could emerge. Through disconnected and assembled sketches of circular motions involving the hypnotic plastic hoop, we offer musings on aspiration, achievement and mastery as well as the failure and disappointment that often results.”

The public is invited to attend Vahla’s open rehearsal free-of-charge and to share in her work, entitled DNA.

DNA will take place on Tuesday 4 September at 19:00 in the Box Theatre at Rhodes Drama Department. It runs for 20 minutes, followed by a brief discussion.

On Wednesday 5 September at 19:00, the First Physical Theatre Company will present Gavin Krastin’s Yet to be determined at the same venue, soon following its successful premiere at the National Arts Festival. It runs for 40 minutes and attendance is free.

Known for his experimental performances that are full of beauty yet hard-hitting, Krastin’s latest live art performance is an anti-narrative meditation on the comfort and fear in realising one’s smallness.

Krastin explained, “The performance actively engages the audience, who play a part in determining the work. Through referenced and imagined ritual-like actions that centre on the body, my performance brings to the fore issues of independence as well as individualism within a group setting.”

Immediately after this showing, Yet to be determined will commence its Cape Town tour with Alan Parker and Gerard Bester’s Sometimes I have to lean in, at the Institute for Creative Arts (ICA) Live Art Festival. Parker is a choreographer and lecturer in physical performance at Rhodes Drama Department, and Bester is a performer and the Creative Director of the Hillbrow Theatre Project.

Sometimes I have to lean in was initially commissioned for the Dance Umbrella’s 30th anniversary earlier this year. The work considers the metaphorical and physical act of ‘leaning’.

Parker explained, “What the work explores is a ‘leaning in’ between the performers and their spectators, as the performers work to establish, and then question, the subtle, intimate push-and-pull between themselves and those who watch them.”

Gavin Krastin’s Yet to be determined shows on Tuesday 11 September at 19:30 on Hiddingh Campus at the University of Cape Town as part of the ICA Live Art Festival. It runs for 40 minutes and attendance is free.

Alan Parker and Gerard Bester’s Sometimes I have to lean in shows on Friday 14 September at 18:00 on Hiddingh Campus at the University of Cape Town as part of the ICA Live Art Festival. It runs for 40 minutes and attendance is free.