By Sabina Elago
WINDHOEK– Jealousy has led men to war, crime and violence. What would it take to change this situation? The Ombetja Yehinga Organisation (OYO) Trust dance troupe is joined by an international cast on a dance piece based on gender base violence and jealousy Ever since Helen.
Ever since Helen is a new drama-dance piece of OYO that explores the roots of jealousy, the games young people play with one another’s feelings and the results of our impossibility, at times, to deal with our emotions. It has been choreographed by Philippe Talavera. A young man, Rodney Isaac, cheats on his girlfriend, Maryn Bjorndahl, with another woman, Laurel Gaff, and his girlfriend finds solace in the arms of her best friend, Anderson Tsowoseb. This open space turns bad as feelings of jealousy and rejection start to emerge.
Talavera’s choreography was inspired by Greek Mythology, Helen of Troy, married to Menelaus, who flew away to Paris and this was the starting point for the Trojan War. But can death, your death, the death of the person you pretended loving be the result of love? Can killing someone ever be justified? All this is answered in the dance piece, says Talavera.
He adds that the project is an annual event of OYO that different dancers join to work on a dance piece and this year they are joined by an international dancers Charlotte Cooper from England, Laurel Gaff and Freya Jones from Canada and Maryn Bjorndahl, Spencer McRae and Amy Stevenson from Scotland. They will also present a videography by Shahir Omar from Canada with a sound design by Rhiannon Brace from England.
“All the dancers ‘our guests’ have created beautiful solos so we used them as starting points for many scenes, either leaving them as solos or building onto them. They make the piece unique, as the various styles of the dancers have been integrated’, explains Talavera.
There will be only one public performance next Thursday, August 28, at the Khomasdal Community Hall (corner Edsel Street and Kroon road, opposite the Khomasdal clinic). Entrance is free.
CAPTION: Dancer Rodney Isaac of the Ombetja Yehinga Organisation (OYO) dance troupe and Freya Jones from England performing rehearsing for the Ever since Helen drama-dance piece dealing with jealous relationships. The piece can be seen at the Independence Arena in Katutura next Thursday.
Picture: Jealousy