COCONUT / THE NEW WHITE AESTHETIC
Work in progress/ Showing

The dancer, choreographer, and activist Kemelo Nozipho Sehlapelo brings together two of their performances in “COCONUT / the new white aesthetic.” “COCONUT” is an exploration, investigation, and engagement with the diaspora, particularly with diasporic dances.

The performers examine contemporary notions of Blackness, “whiteness,” and the surreal demand to oscillate between the two. “the new white aesthetic” is a dance performance and reenactment that restages world-famous marble statues. In doing so, the performers invite the audience to question their own complicity in the construction of a “white” gaze. Ballet—understood here as an ethnic dance of the Indo-European diaspora—is “torn apart.”

In the transition from image to image, they dance a history of erased polychromy. A dance that points to failure: the failure of what has dominated so far, and the failure of a new “white” aesthetic.

Choreography: Kemelo Sehlapelo.

Lighting: Dana Maxim.

Performers: Isidora Gazmuri, Kemelo Sehlapelo, Laura Schönlau, Santiago Mariño, Hlengiwe Sehlapelo

Creative Production/ Outside Eye: Sām Sabor

Funded by Kulturamt Frankfurt