Dancers Deliver a Moving Message About Apartheid

Dance and politics may seem strange bedfellows. But artists have a long history of manipulating movement and metaphor to support their political ideologies. Indeed, some dance works have endured as much for the power of their sobering messages as for their dynamic images.

U-Zulu Dance Theatre of South Africa, an ensemble of dancers and musicians from San Francisco, appears to be aiming for just such a distinction. The troupe, composed entirely of native South Africans, uses an ancient tribal-based art form to evocatively protest the evils of apartheid in their homeland.

On Friday, the seven members of U-Zulu will bring their potent message and unique style of movement to UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium. The evening--which marks the group’s only performance in San Diego County--gets under way at 8 p.m.

“We love to have people know about our culture,” founding member Dingane Lelokoane said. “It was always our dream to be in America to tell our story. People don’t know what’s (really) happening in South Africa because the media are banned from reporting it.”

Lelokoane came to this country in 1980, when he was part of the cast of the hit musical “Ipi Tombi,” which originated in South Africa.

“I was one of the few who got a passport to leave the country, because of the show,” he said. “Otherwise, it’s a long process for blacks to get permission to leave. But the show was partly sponsored by the government, so it was picketed (in the United States) and it closed a couple of months after we came. When the group disbanded, some of us decided to stay here.”

Soon after, the U-Zulu Dance Theatre of South Africa was formed “because we wanted to entertain and educate--to contribute toward spreading information about apartheid,” Lelokoane said. “I’ve seen it. I’ve tasted it. I know how bad it is. It’s no good for blacks or whites.”

In one piece, “Igugu-Lethu” (“Our Pride”), the dancers tell the story of a young black man trying to make a life and a living in Johannesburg. It’s a tale of prejudice, repression, cultural clashes and pain, culminating with the man’s return to his native village.

“Igugu-Lethu” juxtaposes strong images of harmonious village life with the degradation of urban existence. The troupe tapped its tribal roots for the first act of this full-length work, using spoken text, songs, dances and folklore to portray a guileless people with a reverence for communal values.

Later, as the hero sheds the protective shroud of life within his own milieu, the mood turns grim. The emphasis in this part of the program is on the loss of human dignity, extracted as the price of survival in a major South African metropolis.

But optimism prevails, and the dance culminates with a rousing finale, extolling the joys of the family unit and traditional values in a rhythmically expressive war dance. The movement is a blend of ancient Zulu and other tribal steps with modern and even ballet-style dancing. The score melds live drum and guitar music with taped accompaniment.

Unlike many dances bent on making a political point, “Igugu-Lethu”--choreographed collectively by the entire company--doesn’t get mired in polemics. In fact, the San Francisco Examiner described the dance as maintaining “a raffish and satirical charm even under the most dire of circumstances.”

During their stay in San Diego, the performers will teach workshops in dance at UCSD and engage in informal campus discussions.

“We always have round-table discussions with the students, sharing views,” Lelokoane said. “They tell us about America, and we tell them about our culture. That’s very important.”

Although Lelokoane is bullish on America, he looks forward to the day when he can return to his native land. That day, however, will come only if the political picture brightens.

“I’m happy I stayed here, but I want to return to my beginnings,” Lelokoane said. “If South Africa were a free society, it could contribute so much to the world. Now it’s putting the world in danger. It’s drifting away from civilization. But it is very rich in minerals and diamonds.

“If it would only practice democracy,” he said, there might be hope for the country’s natives. “But it does not want to share power. The whites represent 15% of the population, but they occupy 83% of the land.”

Lelokoane acknowledged that some South African whites are anti-apartheid, but he argued that “some whites don’t even know what it’s really like for the blacks. They think everything is fine. They’re privileged and ignorant. They just don’t want to know.”