Mophato Dance Theater will wrap up their performance calendar with a show titled Asante in Maitisong on the 7th of November. Asante; a Swahili word for Thank you has been used deliberately by the dance performers to give thanks to their audience and Batswana for their support in the five years they have been in existence according Andrew Kola the group’s founder.
“Asante is a collage of all the shows we have done previously. We have infused elements from each of our past performances to tell a story. Aspects of Ayani, Kgosi Kgolo, Hosana and XXY will be noticed in this final performance of the year,” Kola said. Music as well as music instruments will be used to complement their performances and he reveals that Sedibeng Choir and a few musicians are expected to be part of the show. “Dance is a beautiful craft and some people enjoy watching just that but we decided to infuse that dance with music to cater for those who are not necessarily dance enthusiasts,” he says.
The production which Kola says took about two months to put together had a few challenges, “funding is always an issue in the arts so we had to self fund the show. We can only hope in the coming year that we get more support from corporates and other stakeholders. The other challenge was that we have new members in the group and some of them were not aware of previous performances like Kgosi Kgolo, so we had to teach them the moves from the start. Fortunately, they caught on fast so I believe this last show will be splendid.”
In 2015, Mophato Dance Theater will be touring Europe with the help of Alliance Francaise Botswana. They are set to perform in Belgium at the Bergen Afro Arts Festival and in France and Spain at the Festival Du Sud. “Before the Europe tour in June, we will have independent shows here at home to prepare ourselves.”
Mophato Dance wraps up the year with “Asante”
