Although Masilo says she prefers to dance, not choreograph, and doesn't like all the attention to be on her when she's performing with others, it's almost impossible to watch anyone else when she's on stage. She attacks her role as Carmen, both athletically and dramatically, with awe-inspiring energy and creative insight.
Set to extracts from the powerful operatic score by George Bizet, which was first performed in 1875, as well as music from the adaptation for The Carmen Ballet by Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin, the story centres on the volatile gypsy who is so free with her love. She toys with the young Corporal José, who she woos away from his lover, Michaela (Penny Ho Hin), while fighting off her rival, convincingly danced by Bafikile Sedibe.
Ho Hin is a pleasure to watch - a soft, feminine contrast to Masilo's raging passion, and an ideal foil for partner Kieron Kalil Jina in the role of José.
Carmen's Dance was the highlight of the piece, featuring Masilo at her fiery best with plenty of raunchy pelvic thrusts and gyrations. She is the supreme tart! Technically brilliant, and spot on with every step, gesture and facial expression, she is a role model for local performers.
Taking inspiration from Carmen, the character, Masilo delivers 110 percent, pushing herself and her cast to produce yet another unforgettable performance. Her piece is about pain, ambition, sex, violence and death, with a twist in the conventional ending. The fight scene between Carmen and José is so ferocious, it's a wonder that somebody doesn't get hurt. José can barely hold her furiously flailing fists and legs; Masilo is a whirling dervish.
After José rejects Michaela and mutinies against his superior, he is overcome with jealousy when Carmen redirects her attention to the bullfighter, Escamillo. Instead of José murdering Carmen, Masilo has Escamillo murder José instead as the cast looks on across a bare black stage. This is the weak link in the piece. The men are not strong enough performers to be convincing, so it's an awful anticlimax to an otherwise exceptional work.
Costumes by Ann and Kirsten Bailes and Kobus O'Callaghan beautifully capture the Spanish theme. Lighting by Suzette le Sueur subtly enhances the dancers' movements as they punch the air with their leaps and lifts against a stark background punctuated periodically by red roses.
Carmen is the second in Masilo's series of three contemporary takes on famous classical ballets. Her interpretation of Swan Lake was staged at the National Arts Festival in Johannesburg this year. It was recently restaged at the Arts Alive Intrenational Festival and The Witness Hilton Festival.
Masilo is the recipient of the 2008 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance and the 2005 Gauteng MEC Award for Most Promising Female Dancer in a Contemporary Style.
After training at The Dance Factory and writing matric at the National School of the Arts, Masilo spent a year with Jazzart Dance Theatre before earning a two-year scholarship to study with the Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Brussels.
Since her return late 2006, Masilo has taught for Dance Factory Youth and created and performed three short and four full-length works. Earlier this year, she spent a month in Israel at the invitation of DanceMotion, creating Umfula Wamadada on young local and Israeli dancers. Its combination of classical ballet with African contemporary dance was well received at the FNB Dance Umbrella 2010. Masilo is based at The Dance Factory in Johannesburg.
Originally published in the Cape Times
