Ridiculing human selfishness through dance

What you need to know:

LIFE LESSONS. Using ballet, Uganda National Contemporary Ballet Dance Company depicted some of the traits that are common in our engagement with others.

Uganda National Contemporary Ballet (UNCB) Dance Company has always explored tangible subjects through dance motives. Tales of the child soldiers in northern Uganda, war and love, but their latest showcase this month, “I, Me and Myself”, fetched a criticism of human nature’s selfishness.

With interesting props, a chair, table, dressing mirror and clothes laying on the floor for quick change, the dance choreography by Valerie Miquel showed how man gets lost in self-exaltation. We want everything to be about us, that we forget to love and care about anyone else. This reflected in their expressive physical motives.

In a fixed network of bodies on the floor, the piece started with the eight dancers fidgeting for space. In this little area, each of them was struggling for release. Their black costumes added a mysterious darkness as their bodies snailed in snake like crawling motion. The standing mirror at the back cast reflections mid center stage.

They burst into solitude, switching places between the chair, table and rotating about in excellent use of space on the stage. But what reflected through every motion was their need for space and ownership. Everyone wanted to be where everyone was, and not let that person be there but them. The softly supple music played as they softly and yet aggressively darted about in contemporary dance forms.

The climax of the dance came when they each started fighting for space before the mirror.

The dancers show self-love in the mirror, endlessly enjoying what they look like, praising themselves, until the cord returns and the one successful enough to throw away everyone else takes the space before the mirror. The routine continues till everyone is fully dressed. The boys who were previously bare chest are also dressed and the stage is a colourful treat of blue, purple, yellow, red, black, etc.

The performance was preceded by older choreographed pieces by UNCB, with each dancer showing solo diversity in their form. However, even though this particular piece had a Broadway classic’s influence, the dance company needs to explore different techniques in their choreography. There is a recycled element of dance motives and especially the fighting technique.

About the series
Venturing into new areas of dance yet staying true and grounded in their contemporary ballet would perhaps draw in new audiences. Their always special guest, Presidential Adviser, John Nagenda, urged the audience to support the company by bringing more friends to watch the show. It has been 8 years of UNCB but the 400 seater auditorium had only about 40 people. The question is “Are Ugandans being selfish with their presence at shows like these?”