Oh Dearest Lord Give Me Power - Slam Dunk Poetry Made In Mdantsane

Masindwa Ntsingisela is part of the of the Imonti Arts Company under V.S.T.C.
The talented members of the drama and dance group come from the second biggest township in South Africa, Mdantsane.
Masindwa asks, in his poem "power" for higher guidance to fight the evils on the street around him and to resist the lord of bling.

http://www.mdantsaneway.com/2013/01/dance-and-drama-in-mdantsane-imonti.html
In his slam dunk poetry he narrates about the streets of Mdantsane and the life around him.

Dance And Drama In Mdantsane - The Imonti Arts Company Under V.S.T.C

Acting and Dancing In Mdantsane

There is a lot of dance and drama in Mdantsane. You just have to look for it! Some of it takes place at the Mdantsane Arts Center, that is presently going through a revival period.

The Imonti Arts Company Under V.S.T.C

 

On our last visit to the center we surprised the "Imonti Art Company Under V.S.T.C" during a training session. The guys and girls of the Imonti Art Company were busy rehearsing a dance and drama play, that they have created themselves in the studio of the Arts Center. 

Their play is a mixture of dance, song and poetry.

Expressing the spirit of Mdantsane

A little bit surprised by our intrusion into their domain they did however not hesitate a minute to give us a taste of what they were working on. What we saw was pretty impressive!

Local Talent Made in Mdantsane

These young Mdantsanians are no amateurs. They have already traveled to Germany and performed there with their group before larger audiences.

Mandla Sanelisiswe

The group of young people share between them a whole range of talents, that combined make up a contemporary drama and dance performance, that has the power to mesmerize the spectator. Infatuating rhtymn and singing, dancing, stamping feet, mixed with poetry makes you keep your eyes on the actors. 

This is no boring drama and dance play, not one of those plays where you politely wait until the end has come and you take a deep breath when outside, lucky that you can go home. No, this is not one of those. This is Mdantsane's power and talent combined and you just wish they must continue to perform in front of you..

Member of the Imonti Arts Company

The group's performance covers topics that arise from the neighbourhood, they live in. Their stories talk about the daily life in Mdantsane.

And nobody is more qualified to talk about it than they are.

Masindwa Ntsingisela (right) is the poet of the group

After the rehearsal Masindwa Ntsingisela said: "Can I say a poem for you?"
His poem talked about young people that have choosen the way of crime as their career.

Born to be a dancer

Looking at the images we have uploaded for you, you can even feel a little bit of that intensity and passion, that showers the spectator.

 

You will be able to see more of them in our documentary movie "Mdantsane - Another African Story".

Incede Womens Project - Art And Recycling In Mdantsane

The Incede Womens Project recycles glass bottles and turn them into beautiful liquor glasses

Nomunde (Patience is her English name, so she tells us) and Zameka are the two savvy ladies behind the Incede Women's Project. The Incede Womens Project's workshop is located in a large room at the Mdantsane Arts Center.

Several women of Mdantsane, concerned about the situation and the future of young people in this country have founded this project a couple of years ago, with the intention to help young people to gain skills in the art sector and thereby allowing them to earn a little income. 

Incede is in the lucky position to be now funded by the Department of Arts and Culture. The efforts of these women, to help create a better community and trying to keep the young people of the streets have been finally recognized.

My name is Patience but I am actually not patient at all, she says!

The Incede Womens Project creates a variety of products with very different materials including pottery ware, mosaic work and has started a line of products, that are made from recycled glass, but we are concentrating in this article on the pottery products, that the women design. 

The products are strongly influenced by the Xhosa culture and the local tradition of the Eastern Cape but they also incorporate many other non-typical Xhosa elements of daily life.

Zameka - a strong vision

Zameka at her working area in front of pottery wares, destined to be painted and glazed

The workshop at the Mdantsane art center seems large to us, but the ladies say it is still not big enough. It is used by many young people, who come there after school to paint or learn the skill of pottery.

Beautiful, colorful handmade and completely RECYCLED glass tiles

The raw material is bought in Gonubie, a little coastal town outside of East London.

The project is well equipped and has all the material needed at its disposition, but the women say what they profoundly lack is marketing, business and selling skills. 

"Once our products are finished, they rest on the shelves in the arts center, Patience says, we don't know how to get them to the clients and we don't know how to attract clients."

The Kiln

Unfinished products

A mosaic clock

The large workshop of the Incede Womens Project

Patience at work

The women belief in their project

The women who have founded Incede believe in the power of work and that if one learns a skill it changes one's outlook on life.

Learning something adds a sense of worth and self respect to your life

"If you are not working, you feel useless. You feel useless and you do not have an income. Sometimes this can not be changed easily because of external circumstances. But if you learn a skill, even if you still have not an income you feel proud and more re-assured of yourself than before," says Patience.

"You have added value to yourself. Life is also about understanding your own value. May be your income will come later or there is the possibility, that you will find money through the skill you have learned in another way, that you have not thought of!"

 

Many women in their later years in life have a deep concern for the future of the young people in South Africa.

Representing the tasks of daily life in the Xhosa culture

If the old traditions die the teachings of these traditions reserved for the young people die as well. But it is a fact of life that certain traditions will die because the effort it would take to uphold them is too big. New ways have to be found to establish values and recognize the value of life. Art can be one of these ways.

The tradition of the rural areas of the Eastern Cape is reflected in these sculptures

Looking at the sculptures one can see, that they have been inspired by daily life. The easy and simple things are shown here. The things, that have to be repeated day after day and that can be a burden sometimes are modeled into sculptures.

I do know nothing about art!

"In fact, I do know nothing about art! But I am very interested in art and all the things that are linked to it", says Patience. 

It is hard to believe, that she grew up "knowing nothing about art", as she says.

Religion is always there

The traditional way of dressing

The traditional way of living

some humor

and something foreign

Makes the eclectic mix of todays South Africa

If you want to support the women or if you are on the look out for some beautiful gifts - Mdantsane is not that far. 

Here are the ladies phone numbers:
Nomunde 0738522088
Zameka  0735794244

The Mdantsane Arts Center

The Mdantsane Arts Center is situated in NU 1 and is funded by the Department of Arts and Culture. It has had its ups and downs in the past.

We paid a visit to the center the other day to see what is happening at the moment.

A Mural Painted On A Container At The Mdantsane Arts Center

The best visits for us are the ones that are not planned and not prepared because then we get a real feeling for a place. This day the heavens had opened their flood gates and a very fine and thin rain was pouring down on us and left us soaking wet withing seconds. The sky was dark and the light dressed all the buildings and everything else around us in an uniform grey. The cameras had to be hidden and carried under plastic bags. It felt like an end-of the world day. A feeling of wanting to go home, crept up inside of us.

But we found artists there! And not only one or two!

A Dance And A Music Instructor At The Mdantsane Arts Center

The Arts Center has a couple of fixed buildings, that host several rooms. We were able to see amongst others a dance room used by drama and dance groups for their practice, a larger workshop that hosts a women's pottery group and painters and a musical room. The other rooms were closed that day. 

On the property outside containers are set up, that serve as workshops for artists and crafters, like Welile the basket weaver whom we have already introduced to you.

Container workshops in the yard of the Mdantsane Arts Center

While we were there more artists were coming to the center instead of the heavy rain. The fact that the center was frequented so much on this day, when we paid an unannounced visit, makes it clear how important art is for every society and especially for Mdantsane. 

Art is an extremely powerful instrument not only in expressing society, but also in reforming the society from the inside. South Africa is a society that has more stories to tell than anyone can perceive. 

South Africa is a multi-cultural society in constant transformation, with a rich base of different and interesting people. The artists are the ones that can tell the stories of South Africa to the rest of the world.

We need the writers, dancers, poets, musicians, actors and filmmakers! We need them! We need them to express our lives and the times we live in!

Mural on the wall of a container

For a place like Mdantsane an art center is a necessity. That day there were so many artists but there was little space. South Africa is a country with a very high crime and unemployment rate and the townships are the spots were the left overs of the misery that South Africa's history of segregation has created can still be found in concentrated form.

What alternatives does the youth have in Mdantsane? The Art Center is an outlet for creativity and a counter measure to crime and boredom. But it could be much more than that. It could be a powerful instrument in the development of the youth. Of everyone in fact! You do not need to be young to become an artist.

There are great discussions going on concerning the number of residents, that life in Mdantsane. The official number after the last government census ranges at 400.000 and something. In our opinion this does not even come close to the actual number. But we are just speculating. 

So how can a small space like the Mdantsane Arts Center cater and accommodate the talent of the people in the township. The answer is: it cannot! 

But it could.

The rule with promoting artists is, that there has to be a certain continuity in funding. It takes a long time to develop an artist. An artist needs first of all the peace of mind to work on his talent and become better in his skill until he reaches a certain level, that satisfies him. When he reaches this level, only then is he confident to expose himself and his work to the world. 

Peace of mind you can only have when you are not hungry!

If there is no continuity in funding the process of grooming talent is interrupted and to start all over again is much more difficult. This is the story of many art centers.

Some things do not bring money but they bring good for the society at large and money has to be spend on them.

Creativity in a container

It could be a place not only to occupy the youth but to seriously groom Mdantsane's talent

The talent that walks the streets of Mdantsane can not be counted! The talent we met in one day at the arts center was impressive. We will be publishing a couple of articles about our encounters with the artists!

But we will be back for more in depth interviews and recordings.Today you are getting some impressions from the outside, especially of the beautiful murals, that decorate the outside of the containers.

Drama and Dance Group at The Mdantsane Arts Center

The way we see it is that the government should not only see the arts center as a place to keep young people occupied and keep them from the streets but to really start understanding the importance of an arts center as a place to groom seriously the talent of Mdantsane. Amen!

Sakhile Graphics Project At The Mdantsane Arts Center - Graphic Design From A Container

The Story Of Welile The Cane Weaver

Welile Melane The Cane Weaver

Welile Melane has been living in Mdantsane for a very long time. Welile is a basket weaver and he works from a container in the Mdantsane Arts Center. He has not always been a cane weaver.

During the political unrest in the 1980's when the whole of South Africa was in turmoil Mdantsane was also put under a curfew to keep protesters under control. One day Welile came into a violent confrontation with the police, was beaten severely and lost his eye. Half blind in a time of great insecurity he faced a grim fate.

At a later stage when peace was restored in the township and the country's regime had changed Welile found help from the South African organization of the blind in East London. He got involved in a skills development program and was trained in the century old craft technique of basket weaving.

Basket weaving is like pottery one of the oldest trades and crafts techniques in the world and is practised in many countries. The role basket weavers and ceramic artists played in the community was an important one. People always needed containers and before the arrival of plastic and other modern materials baskets and ceramic pots were valued household goods.

The techniques differ depending on the region, culture, history and the material available. It is a skill that deserves great admiration. But some of the very old technique are known only by old people in the rural areas anymore and are dying out now.  It is a skill from the past.

Welile is weaving with cane. He has to buy the material from suppliers in East London or even from Durban. Cane is not available in Mdantsane. 

"Now, I had a skill but I had no money to start a business", says Welile.

Somebody told him about the Mdantsane Art Center. The Art Center of Mdantsane is a story of its own. It has its ups and down. It is riding a constant wave. At the moment it is in the upwards face and there is life. The premises are filled with artists because the center has received new funding from the government.

Welile's Baskets

Welile was given a container from where he operates his business now. He called his business WEZA'S CANE WEAVING and works still alone. These are some of the beautiful baskets he makes. 

Working Material

WEZA'S CANE WEAVING

Welile was facing the same situation like many other participants, that have completed successfully skills development programs. To develop a skill takes time and dedication. You have to be hard working and patient.
But it is even more difficult to start a business. Once the skill is there, what next?

There are business start up programs in East London that assist artists like Welile.
"But then again financial input is not the only thing that matters", Welile reasons, "equally important are management skills. And these are not easy to transfer in a couple of days or in a week long workshop to an uneducated person".

But Welile tries! 

He has learned about costing and knows now how to get his prices right and not to sell his products to cheap.

"But if the price is right and fair to him people tend to buy less", he says

If you have enjoyed the story about Welile don't miss our 60 min road and documentary movie MDANTSANE - ANOTHER AFRICAN STORY  (click the link to watch the trailer). We have included an interview with Welile in the movie.

 A peak into Welile's workshop