Iyasa takes new dance to Europe

Standard Style
Internationally-acclaimed arts group, Iyasa, last week left the country for Austria for their annual international tour and cultural exchange programme with a new dance piece.

Internationally-acclaimed arts group, Iyasa, last week left the country for Austria for their annual international tour and cultural exchange programme with a new dance piece.

BY SHARON SIBINDI

A scintillating act by Iyasa in Austria recently
A scintillating act by Iyasa in Austria recently

The 10-member group led by Iyasa director, Nkululeko Innocent Dube has a new dance called African Thunder. The tour ends in September.

Dube told The Standard Style that the group has had such tours since 2002 and this time around, they will visit Austria, Luxembourg, Germany, Czech Republic, Taiwan and other European countries.

“We do such tours every year, starting in March or April. It is part of our programme under which we do solo projects and collaborations with other arts companies abroad that include Theatro Piccolo and Szene Bunte Wahne, among several others,” he said.

Dube said the team would present a solo production where they would showcase a new dance.

“We have several theatre productions where we perform together with our partners in Europe and we will present there. We will premiere two new productions, one in Austria and another in Germany. In our solo production, we will present our latest dance piece entitled African Thunder,” he said.

He said the tours have helped many artists break new ground.

“Iyasa is a resource centre for young people in the arts and our tours are one of the many avenues through which we export our work and talents worldwide. These are the same tours that have seen the likes of Future, Nkwali, Pepsi Magonya and Silethemba being awarded scholarships abroad,” he said.

“Magonya has broken new ground and is signing lucrative contracts with bigger productions in foreign countries. The tours also help us grow our brand, and set us as an internationally firm organisation in the arts.”

In addition, Dube said such tours had become an eye-opener to the team as they had managed to grasp and learn a lot.

“We have learnt a lot about creating internationally-recognised arts productions. We are able to market our work and our artists to the world and the bigger market out there. Iyasa has become an international brand competing with the world’s best and we owe a lot of that to the tours we hold annually,” he said.

Dube said Iyasa would this year send a separate team of young artists to Germany.

“In a major development, this year we will send a separate team of young artists we work with to Berlin, Germany for a new collaboration project with a theatre company called Theatre Strahl. The Germans will also visit Bulawayo for research and rehearsals in April,” he said.

Asked how he felt after winning an award at the recent National Arts and Merits Award (Nama), Dube said; “Humbling, to say the least. It’s an honour to be recognised by Nama and by the people of Zimbabwe for our efforts in growing the local arts industry and nurturing talent. It was an endorsement that we value as a source of inspiration that will spur us on to do more.”