Having watched Mophato Dance Theatre’s productions unfold on stage, Thalefang Charles’ Mophato: Botswana’s Story, Told in Dance feels like a return to moments that refuse to fade. Through striking photography and intimate storytelling, the book gives Botswana’s cultural memory a permanent home.
GOSEGO MOTSUMI
Some performances stay with you long after the applause dies. Others become part of your personal history. For me, reading Thalefang Charles’ Mophato: Botswana’s Story, Told in Dance was less about discovering a dance company than revisiting moments I had carried in my memory — and experiencing them all over again.
SIX PRODUCTIONS, ONE NATION
Having watched Mophato Dance Theatre’s productions on stage, I knew the emotional territory Charles was navigating. But the book brought a fresh intimacy to those memories, particularly PULA, where a moment involving Mmapula, played by Palesa Molefe, remains unforgettable.
As Molefe entered a spine-chilling spiritual trance, the production continued singing around her. The moment felt startlingly real, the kind of theatrical experience that leaves an audience suspended between performance and something seemingly beyond it.
Charles’ photography captures that intensity beautifully, allowing the emotion to travel beyond the stage. Even more gripping was reading Molefe’s own account of the experience later in the book. A moment I thought I knew suddenly had another dimension. That is where Mophato becomes more than documentation: it lets the audience revisit a memory while discovering the human story behind it.
Across six landmark productions, including PULA, BORWA, TEEMANE, THARI, INYAYA and A RE YENG BOTSWANA, the book explores drought, migrant labour, diamonds, women’s experiences and national identity. Founding director Andrew Letso Kola’s vision emerges through dance that carries ancestral knowledge into contemporary storytelling.
WHEN PHOTOGRAPHS KEEP MOVING
The book’s physical presentation deserves recognition, too. The printing brings out the photography beautifully, preserving its visual impact without pixelation. For a work built around movement, expression and carefully captured moments, that clarity matters.
Drawing on the voices of more than 40 artists, Charles also takes readers behind the scenes, revealing the labour, vulnerability and creative process behind the performances.
Ultimately, Mophato is both a cultural archive and an emotional return. It preserves stories that might otherwise fade when the lights go down, reminding us that Botswana’s identity is not only written in history books; it is also danced, felt and remembered.
TAKE THE STORY HOME
Readers can find Mophato: Botswana’s Story, Told in Dance at Botswana Book Centre (Main Mall), Botswana Craft (Block 3), Exclusive Books (Airport Junction) and PushaBW Store (SSKIA).