Best of Grahamstown

I love the 969 Festival because it gives those of us who missed out on this year’s National Arts Festival (thanks to a little thing called The World Cup) the chance to see some of the best productions from there. Last night I went to see Athena Mazarakis’ Elev(i)ate 2 at the Nunnery at Wits University.

She won a 2010 Standard Bank Ovation Award for the piece, which is a follow-up to the dance installation she presented at the Dance Umbrella in March. For that piece she worked with a digital artist and invited audience members to interact with her – thinking about certain things as she physically lifted them up. The footage from that was recorded and forms part of Elev(i)ate 2.

Photo by Suzy Bernstein

It’s a wonderful, imaginative and evocative insight into the weight of matter, and the weight of what matters.
Next week I am going to see James Cunningham’s Kaput about two brothers whose lives are disturbed by a foreign invasion. Check out the line-up and go see some of the best of the best!