SiMbA dAnCe

Simba Dance Ensemble

Is a newly dance initiative based in Bergen,Norway. Established as part of Simba Arts dance initiative  by Carte Blanche 's dancer Simbarashe  Norman Fulukia a.k.a. Simba.. 

 It was during  Try in House 3 a.k.a TIH (Carte Blanche's open stage initiative) when dancer Simba collaborated with Norwegian up coming folk musician(Hardingfelle player),Erlend Apneseth and Israeli female dancer ,Yarden Raz in his Afro Mix project.After a successful collaboration lead to the birth of Simba African Dance Ensemble (SIDE).Like the abbreviation of the company '',SIDE'' the company goal is to stand SIDE by SIDE as  One people, with One heart,One love ,One Universe  sharing One vision .

  Simba believes that we're ''One people with different colors living in One Universe there for we need to love one another, share,care for one another /treat each other the same...  so by collaborating with two nationalists Simba wanted to make a statement that'' Yes we Can'' make a difference for a better tomorrow if only we unite/stand side by side and speak with one voice! Simba choreographed and presented two creations at TIH.These are;

•  ''Black Gold'' .It was about exploring the duplicity of this metaphor. In one end: the self-worth of black people and Africa as a continent, in the other: oil, capitalism and the weapon industry.

Dancers: Simbarashe Norman Fulukia & Yarden Raz and 

Live Musikk : Erlend Apneseth & Simbarashe Norman Fulukia

Another creation/choreography was a solo of  Yarden namely ''Suffer in Silence''.It was a abstract installation  inspired by my (Simbarashe's) life, as  a web of pain and despair, with the burden of a secret that I dare never want to share in that case chose to suffer in silence.

Dancer: Yarden Raz and 

Live Musikk by Erlend Apneseth

Fotos:  Sean Meling Murray 

Simba African dance Ensemble

Mission Statement

Overview

 African Dance and Culture

Explore the African dance technique through a variety of movements based on traditional practices on the continent of Mother Africa. Learn movements that reflect the lives of a people, the culture of a society, and songs, stories, and drum patterns that uplift the soul of an identity.

''One people with different colors,One Universe,One heart,One Love,One vision''

-Simbarashe Norman Fulukia

We deem it human to share what Africa has to offer – a smile on your face and goodness in your hearts. We are only servants of the tradition.

There are many repertories but we share Zimbabwean folk dances and the  Southern African region, West,East and Central Africa. We also create new (Contemporary)choreography and songs within the African idioms . We create these within the traditional idioms in order to keep the tradition of the people alive.  

 Objectives

• To uphold the diverse indigenous cultures of Africa, of over 500 million people with thousands of ethnic groupings from the continent and the Diaspora.
• To research and look at ways of development, thereby maintaining the appreciable hue of the unique cultures of many ethnicities across Africa, looking at the categories of Southern Africa, East Africa, Central and West Africa.
• We tell our story through movement that connects nature to songs that unfold the spirits of the universe, rhythms, melodies, and ululations that touch the very fabric of humanity.
• To serve as a window into the ethnology of the land and its people, to uphold the culture and tradition with integrity.
• To promote, educate and put something in place for posterity. We tell our story because it is good to tell your story.
• To promote diversity within the single vision of African Performance.
• We perform our art forms with passions; passions of happiness, joy, the sweat of life, and the rhythms that make your heart jump. This is fueled by love, peace, harmony, truthfulness, honesty, and team effort.
• We use music and dance as a medium to discourage society from violence or anything that leads to disharmony, and thereby fostering anti-bullying in schools and any organization, and generally to educate the consciousness of human thinking to respect and honour all humans on earth without any taxonomy.
• It is inherent that the resource of oral tradition sharing is very important and paramount to our modes of teaching, which is lively and very spontaneous. Individuals are spontaneously taught many elements of the music and dance, which is one phenomenon, from a traditional perspective without being compartmentalized.
• We create contemporary works as well, on a different level and context, to push the boundaries of today’s generation within the idioms of the Motherland performance.
• To document existing and to create new children’s and teenagers’ games and songs, as well as the adult versions.
• To tour the world with the art forms, thereby educating and exploring what is meant by African performance performed by a diverse group of people from around the world. In effect, SIDE represents the world, and it could be called Universe Dance Ensemble. If it is true that the source of humanity comes from Africa, then when we call it Simba African Dance Ensemble, it implies Universe Dance Ensemble. Anyone from any part of the world, any age, any orientation, is welcome to partake in SIDE activities, because we serve the human needs, not one specific ethnic group, no theoretical perspective, just humans is the key.

Disclaimer

We aim at retrieving the oral tradition. In the course of doing that, we are still in process. Tradition is dynamic, it is growing. What you are reading today is not blocked in stone. We do not canonize our artform. As of the time of typing, it is still growing, because it is a living art. The life of the people is the artform. In an attempt to do research, we welcome any comments and suggestions that will champion the expansion of this database among others, as a contribution to the creation of awareness of African performing arts.

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