front page news Idris and Rhodessa Go Digital! Holiday Gift Ideas From San Francisco to South Africa Idris' Italian Diary - Collegno, Italy November 2005 Photo Gallery 30-11 Ackamoor From San Francisco to South Africa By Idris Ackamoor Idris Ackamoor and Rhodessa Jones of Cultural Odyssey were invited to teach workshops and perform in South Africa. By the end of the trip, they found that they weren't the only teachers. Rhodessa Jones and I traveled to Johannesburg, South Africa in July to conduct residency activities and perform at the Urban Voices 2005 International Arts Festival of the Diaspora. Urban Voices presented spoken word, poetry, music and theatre featuring South African and international poets and performers. Cultural Odyssey conducted workshops with female inmates inside South African prisons, performed four shows at the world-famous Market Theater and presented workshops with youth from the township of Soweto. South Africa is a mirror image of America. It has one of the strongest economies on the continent and sights that resemble any big city in America, complete with freeways, ample billboard advertisements, fast food joints and well-constructed modern buildings and infrastructure. The one major difference is that the population is overwhelmingly black. Johannesburg is like one giant Harlem or South Side Chicago. It is remarkable that after only 10 years since the dismantling of apartheid, the black presence permeated every aspect of South African society, including the corporate sector, the entertainment industry, the service and fast food jobs. During apartheid, the South African Broadcast Company (SABC) had a bunker-like mentality and was built to withstand the threats of bomb blasts from Umkwonko we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress. The building was a catacomb of underground studios and facilities. Ten years ago I might not have even been allowed in the building. During our visit Rhodessa Jones and I had several opportunities to be interviewed by SABC television and radio stations. Black folks did our makeup! The television and radio personalities who interviewed us were black! The security guards and officials were black! Although South African society is viewed by many through the prism of race, the triumph of South Africa is the fact that the country did not descend into the violent civil war and bloodshed that some predicted once apartheid fell. Instead truth, reconciliation and forgiveness (not necessarily forgetfulness) prevailed. White South Africans still hold much of the purse strings, and they have barricaded themselves behind fortress-like homes complete with high walls, reams of barbwire and electrical fences. One week after we arrived, Rhodessa and Cultural Odyssey's Sean Reynolds were to conduct workshops with the female inmates in two South African prisons as part of Medea Project: Theater for Incarcerated Women process. Cultural Odyssey's videographer, Gaidi Nkruma, was to film inside the prisons. The goal of the workshops was to encourage community building in the prison. We would conduct up to four hours of theatre games, interviews and conversations. In South African prisons, there had never been a residency like Cultural Odyssey proposed before. Consequently, there was no track record or model for the South African prison officials to review. On Monday, July 12 the Cultural Odyssey crew was off to the Pretoria Correctional Centre, a 50-minute ride from Johannesburg. Before entering the prison we had to meet with prison arts and culture director, Mr. Luvuyo Gqili, and his staff composed of black and white females who were all dressed in brown suits with green military-like lapels and gold buttons. Mr. Gqili explained his vision for the future for inmate rehabilitation. He spoke of his "Centers of Excellence" where inmates would have the opportunity to participate in a variety of artistic activities, including jazz bands and residencies conducted by international and national artists. Upon entering the female section of the prison, we were informed that we could not film the women inside the prison. This was after already receiving permission earlier by another prison official. Of course, Gaidi was crushed. We were ushered into a large courtyard where over 100 female inmates were milling around. After introductions, Rhodessa and Sean began with a warm-up. In the first exercise, the inmates formed a circle, holding hands and passing a hand-squeezing pulse around the circle. (In theatre we know this as a "round of lightning.") It is a very giddy game that opens everyone up to playing together. Next, we placed a man (in this case one of our sponsors named Zee) in the center of the space. Rhodessa instructed the inmates to run to the center and see who would touch the man first. The women rushed Zee, creating pandemonium that utterly surprised the on-looking prison guards. This exercise was a way to get the women to move, hence run and breathe more deeply. The Medea Project uses this methodology as a way of nudging the memory, taking the incarcerated woman back to a time before life began to hurt. The next series of exercises starts opening the offender up to a conversation about who she is. She is asked to introduce herself and answer a series of questions. What is your name? Where does your name come from? Who named you? The inmates are mostly black with about 10 white women and a sprinkling of coloreds and one Indian. Four correctional guards look on. Gaidi tries to tape the interviews clandestinely by placing his camera inside a bag and shooting out of a hole. He is caught! A very menacing prison guard storms up to Gaidi and me, who are sitting on a bench in the courtyard watching the workshop. He is mad. He snatches Gaidi's bag and demands he follow him. Another official decides to take all of our bags from the courtyard and place them in a holding area. Gaidi is taken to a room where he is basically interrogated and the film confiscated. He is not allowed back into the courtyard. However, this unfortunate event did not spoil the day. Before arriving at Johannesburg Female Correctional Centre ("Sun City"), the appropriate authorities were called, and we secured permission to film inside the jail. This time there were no surprises, and the workshop was extraordinary. The inmates opened themselves up and revealed personal and very confidential information. One of the most stunning revelations was the number of women who were serving up to 25 years for murder. These were young, pretty, innocent-looking women. Gaidi conducted video interviews that reveled many of these women were abused by their husbands or boyfriends. In several instances this abuse was not taken into consideration by the courts. The focus of the residency now turned to the performances. The Market Theater is an incredible facility and world-famous for its productions, actors and directors. Immediately adjacent to the main Market Theater is the Market Laboratory Theater, a wonderful 300-seat black box. Cultural Odyssey presented two productions. Big Butt Girls, Hard-Headed Women is one of our signature shows, featuring Rhodessa with my direction and music. A series of monologues based on the lives and times of real incarcerated women, the piece utilizes theatre, movement and song to anchor words born out of the silence that is so particular to incarcerated women. The second show, In Search of Human Culture, is one of Cultural Odyssey's latest productions, a collection of new and past works, commemorating the company's 25th anniversary. The show includes excerpts from They Speak Through Us, which is a homage to jazz; Deep in the Night uses the devices of comedy, ritual, drama, music, movement, storytelling and performance art to speak through multiple female characters who are HIV positive; and the Red, White and Blues Suite is an artist's commentary on the war in Iraq. The South African audiences gave us standing ovations every night. It seemed that we touched a nerve that they found new and exciting. They immediately related to several pieces, including Deep in the Night. It is common knowledge that the AIDS and HIV infection rate in South Africa is one of the highest in the world. In our Red, White and Blues Suite, which ended the show, the South African's view of the war came to center stage. The audiences were vocal and unanimous in their outrage about the war in Iraq, and they applauded us as Americans for speaking out against it. The audiences were also completely amazed at my ability to tap dance and play the saxophone simultaneously. I don't think anyone who attended the show will forget this feat. On Saturday July 16 we conducted a workshop for the youth from Soweto and the general community. I always wanted to see Soweto, and to connect with the young people of the township was a dream come true. Earlier in the week we went to the Hector Pieterson Museum. Hector was the first kid to die in the student uprising and massacre of 1976, immortalized in a famous photo of that tragic day. Cultural Odyssey's workshop began with an introduction about our history and influences. Demonstrations of our artistic style and process followed. We performed several excerpts that revealed the interdisciplinary nature of our work, including my signature simultaneous tap and sax routine. Rhodessa performed a spoken-word piece as I accompanied her with music. A period of questions and answers followed the performances. One of the first questions by a young man related to how we worked a theatrical narrative into our interdisciplinary performance. The audience was familiar with spoken word, but did not connect the spoken word to the theatrical making of a narrative work. Rhodessa mentioned Ntozake Shange and her groundbreaking choreopoem, For Colored Girls. Not one member of the audience had heard of Ntozake Shange. This was a surprise to me; however, South Africa is another world, and they have their own revered artists whom we have no knowledge of. One young man mentioned that there are many talented young artists in South Africa who try to solicit funding from philanthropic institutions. Unfortunately, too many requests are turned down. He wanted to know if Cultural Odyssey could return to South Africa and conduct a workshop on grant writing and fund-raising for the youth of Soweto. At the end of the workshop all of the youth were invited to attend our performance that night. As we left South Africa, I reflected on the power of forgiveness. The power of truth. About the dialogue that the former oppressor and the former oppressed has to have in order to move forward. How art can be used to channel hatred, revenge and rehabilitation. About the global struggle that all artists have in order to make a living from their art, for funding, acceptance and recognition. How international community collaboration can foster global connections, communication and the exchange of ideas. And about the incredible similitude that South Africans of color have with Afro Americans: their struggle, their suffering, their strengths and their survival and triumphs despite what seemed like insurmountable odds arrayed against them. donate today! forward to a friend join our email list let us know what you think of our newsletter! talk back