Kovgan: images of Nora

Alla Kovgan: Shoemaker

Nov/Dec Journal Part III, Dance Films Association

Filmmaker Alla Kovgan talks about the making of NORA with dancer-choreographer Nora Chipaumire

Movement (R)evolution Africa

A few days ago, I posted my review of Nora--a 2008 documentary about Nora Chipaumire and her life in Zimbabwe by filmmakers Alla Kovgan and David Hinton. At the end, I added a link to information on Movement (R)evolution Africa (a story of an art form in four acts), an earlier documentary directed by Kovgan and Joan Frosch, Nora's producer.

Unfortunately, at the time, I was unable to say anything more about M(R)A, since my computer's media player had balked at reading the DVD. However, since then, my regular DVD player kicked into action, and now I'm thrilled to be able to urge you to add both films to your must-see list.

If anything, M(R)A electrified me even more than Nora--which is really saying something.

M(R)A is an absorbing, kaleidoscopic introduction to contemporary dance as conceived by artists from many of Africa's regions, artists committed to reflecting 21st Century African realities.

Creators and performers familiar to most serious dance fans--such as Chipaumire, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar of New York's Urban Bush Women and Germaine Acogny of Senegal's Jant-Bi--flow through. But we're also treated to numerous tastes of unfamiliar cultural aesthetics and troupes, such as exquisite Company Rary from Madagascar. If your notion of dance from Africa extends only to theatricalized versions of traditional tribal dancing from Africa's West, it's time for you to see M(R)A. Among other things, this film certainly makes the point--still a necessary lesson for many Americans--that the continent of Africa is not only abundant in cultures but historically impacted by, and, in turn, strongly influential upon, a world of cultures.

With lush, fast-paced imagery and a range of intimate interview clips, M(R)A celebrates Africa's contemporary artists as searching innovators who clearly have much to teach and share with American artists. One of my favorite segments involves an exploration of the African concept of contact dance. The filmmakers piece together samples of this from many of the companies, and I found the palpable human connectedness, groundedness and inherent drama even in abstract movement deeply affecting.

You will want to own a copy and revisit M(R)A many times to catch new ideas and inspirations and to dream of seeing artists you might not yet have had the opportunity to see in New York or elsewhere.

For further information and to view a clip from M(R)A, click here.

Chipaumire: dancing her path of light

For fans of Nora Chipaumire--and anyone who has yet to encounter this extraordinary dancer-choreographer--I strongly recommend Nora (2008), a 35-minute, award-winning film by Alla Kovgan and David Hinton.

"I am a dancer," begins the film's opening narrative text, "Born by the side of the road/on June 26, 1965, in Zimbabwe/which was then called Rhodesia." These simple facts--and shots of the rounded humps of mountains and of hands quietly resting atop the skin of drums--soon give way to poetic, often fanciful, always passionate storytelling by way of text, dance, breathtaking cinematography by Mkrtich Malkhasyan and original music by the legendary Thomas Mapfumo.

Chipaumire, who left Zimbabwe in 1989 and lives in New York City, collaborated on the screenplay with directors Kovgan and Hinton. Due to the repressive political situation in her homeland, the film was shot in Mozambique, near the Zimbabwean border. In a dream-like collage of sequences, Chipaumire revisits the red earth of her land, her people, her memories of childhood and youth. We get a sense of the often terrible familial and societal ingredients that set in motion a free-spirited, strong-willed, committed artist.

The film highlights Chipaumire's skillful chameleon nature--athletically masculine at one moment, romantically demure at another; towering and severe at one turn, playful at another. It is--all of it--utterly convincing, absorbing, intriguing. The film also draws together the sources that flavor her contemporary dance, which has won her world-wide acclaim and a 2007 Bessie Award--from village women's dancing to the fierce toi toi of Zimbabwean freedom fighters of the chimurenga (war of liberation) and to expansive, celebratory disco dancing.

Malkhasyan often shoots Chipaumire's dance segments through partitions or the framing of schoolhouse windows and doorways, not only achieving arresting compositions but also alluding to the searing realities of Zimbabwean and familial conflict that shaped this woman and, for a time, confined her. Together, these two artists create a most effective, imaginative partnership of dance and environment.

For additional information about Nora and to view brief excerpts, click here.

For information on Joan Frosch and Alla Kovgan's 2007 film, Movement (R)evolution Africa--which features Chipaumire as well as performers from Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar, South Africa, Ivory Coast, Cape Verde, Senegal and the US--click here.

Upcoming screenings of Nora

• July 17-27, 2009 - Festival internazionale del cinema d’arte, Bergamo, Italy, http://www.teamitalia.com/
• July 22 - August 2, 2009 - Durban International Film Festival, Durban, South Africa http://www.cca.ukzn.ac.za/
• July 29 - August 2, 2009 - Pan Africa Film and Arts Festival, Atlanta, USA, http://www.paff.org/
• July 24-August 9, 2009 - Melbourne International Film Festival, http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/