MUNTU DANCE THEATRE
Muntu is a long-lived Chicago group (it was formed in 1972) that specializes in traditional and contemporary African dance. That orientation means, in part, that the accompaniment is particularly compelling–as many as five drummers, who are usually onstage. But it may also bring a few dance aficionados up short: If it’s traditional, can it be original or creative? If it’s folk art, where’s the fit with our culture? The correct response is: don’t worry, be happy.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Muntu makes that easy. This is not dance for the brain to pick over–it’s an experience that pours through you in one clear rushing stream. Part of the reason is that Muntu’s brand of dance borders on the seamless. Dance and music are not clearly separate–the drummers dance with their hands, and the dancers make music with their feet and even with their costumes and props. The dances also blend into one another, often bridged by a drumming extravaganza that allows the dancers to catch their breath or change costumes, with no artificial breaks for the audience’s applause. It’s as if all the performers had entered into a pact never to let the ball drop.
The third work, Kakilambe, is a narrative dance divided into three scenes. In the first, a tall, rather gangly man (Abdoulaye Camara) enters wearing a wicked grin and lots of green, red, and yellow feathers. He carries a big bowl and a feather duster that he shakes in the air to release a cloud of magic powder, laughing maniacally. Somehow we know this guy’s up to no good (a little boy in the row ahead of me said loudly “What’s he gonna do?”). Two curious figures with spaceman heads enter carrying torches, and the mischief maker lights his two torches from theirs and proceeds to eat some fire.
This was not your typical dancing in a theater. For this kind of dance, it’s not how it looks but how it feels, it’s not the shape but the beat, and it’s not a beat you hear but a beat you feel–one that rocks you from your sternum to the soles of your feet. Your head’s involved only on the rebound.
