"Tamujuntu": where South Africa and Brazil meet in dance

In the piece "Tamujuntu", the South African dance company Via Katlehong explores the similarities and shared histories of social struggles between its home country and Brazil. Key to the electrifying performance is a meeting between the two nation's street dances: Pantsula and Passinho.

Their feet kick up sand in the air. They stomp, they whistle, they shout. They dance.

As the members of the South African dance company Via Katlehong perform the piece "Tamujuntu" on the stage of the Maison de la Danse in Lyon, France, they make the choreographies by Brazilian choreographer Paulo Azevedo look easy, natural, and playful. They dance under warm tones of light, yellow, red, and either circle around or move right in the middle of a large rectangle of sand on stage.

They celebrate, they seem to depict and feel life in all its aspects.

This is also because "Tamujuntu" incorporates a dance and a tradition that is close to the essence of Via Katlehong: Pantsula.

Born in Black townships during the Apartheid regime as a means of resistance and resilience, Pantsula is much bigger than dance: it is a lifestyle, a way of dressing, a way of communicating and a way of moving.

But "Tamujuntu" is not only based on Pantsula. By mixing it with the Brazilian street dance Passinho - a dance, that is like Pantsula rooted in social struggles and lifestyles -, Azevedo makes something new out of it, celebrating the connections between two nations that seem so different and yet share many similarities.

Working with a choreographer from another country and another style is in fact a habit for Via Katlehong.

"Pantsula is one dance form, it’s very sensitive, it’s very abstract. So when we invite choreographers, we want to see what they can do with our own," explains Steven Faleni, one of the co-directors of the company.

In the case of "Tamujuntu", the result is electrifying, sometimes moving, sometimes funny, and often joyful.

Maybe that is because "Tamujuntu", a Brazilian word close to the idea of "togetherness", seems to resonate with the South African "ubuntu": "I am who I am because of who we all are."