all images copyright of Kali van der Merwe
deep night
Sabbagha has conceived and created Deep Night in collaboration with fellow Standard Bank Young Artist winner, Dada Masilo, as well as celebrated dancers, Lulu Mlangeni, Ivan Teme; and Songezo Mcilizeli, all of whom perform in the work.
The video projections are devised by Thabo Pule, with costumes by Tracey Human.
Sabbagha’s new contemporary dance theatre work employs performance and multimedia elements to draw attention to the presence of HIV and AIDS in everyone’s lives, whether they realise it or not.“HIV and AIDS are critical personal and social issues which permeate all levels of our individual and communal existence, whether we know it or not,” says Sabbagha, who feels passionately about addressing the presence of this disease in South Africa. “This tiny, sophisticated virus permeates our minds; bodies; and hearts, revealing the bleakest and most beautiful layers of our humanity.
”Set against the backdrop of a night club exterior, the images and sequences in Deep Night unravel, revealing mankind’s desperate desire to belong and be loved. The work draws its impulse from the 'witching time of night', when the line between reality and fantasy becomes blurred; that time when we are overwhelmed by our desires and when our bodies are all-consuming.
Sometimes gentle, sometimes irreverent, this challenging and provocative new work draws together bruising physicality and exciting imagery to weave a dreamlike stream-of-consciousness meditation on love; lust; longing; and loneliness.