#ilovebotswana ensemble makes it rain in Berlin
Thalefang Charles | Friday March 17, 2017 16:13
I have watched traditional dance all my life. But two hours later I realised that had I missed this show, it would have been the biggest mistake of my travelling career because it turned out to be the greatest Botswana production ever staged anywhere in the world.
From the airport we were whisked away, against our will, straight to the Messedum, the venue of the ITB Berlin Opening Night hosted by Botswana. The Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO) representative, Cynthia Mothelesi, our host in Berlin, was probably on the tip of, “I know you are tired but you will thank me later because you must watch this!”
ITB Berlin is the world biggest travel fair by so many measures and this year Botswana became the first Sub-Saharan African country to partner with the fair. The highlight of the programme was right at the beginning. It was the only performance by #ilovebotswana ensemble directed by Andrew Kola of Mophato Dance Theatre. Kola had won the tender from BTO to stage a theatre production to tell Botswana tourism story at the ITB Berlin.
It was a big stage for Kola and he had to cast wide to get the best of Botswana. Last year Kola directed three local blockbuster productions with Mophato Dance Theatre. It was Pula during Maitisong Festival, Borwa and winning production of Makgaolakgang. For #ilovebotswana ensemble Kola selected the country’s crème de la crème of dancers. A troupe of 30 talented individuals made the trip to Berlin for the main opening act.
Before the show there were usual speeches about travel and tourism including one from President Ian Khama. No matter how seasoned a traveller is, travelling for 30 hours and arriving in a cold weather demands one to draw deep from his or her energy reserve to concentrate on speeches. Luckily the speeches were short.
The #ilovebotswana ensemble thundered down on stage like they were the blitzkrieg. The marimba and mbira sounds transported me back to the hot summer nights in Botswana. The cinematic surround sound was crispy clear. It was so clear that the audience could hear the chants and conversations that dancers have while they are it. Phathisi dancers for instance do usual chants and war cries that are not usually audible unless one is really close to them. But in Berlin we could hear them cheer one another, “Tsena Skit!”
The lighting was every photographer’s wish. It was beautiful. The lighting together with sound completed set the stage high for the performers to impress. They had no excuse. And they did just that.
The story was narrated by Gofaone Gabriel Modise of Tsoga Africa Theatre Works and Dikhwaere BTV programme called Lobebe. Modise was the tour guide taking the audience into a story of Botswana’s breathtaking sunsets, wild animals, vast landscapes and amazing people. He proved to be a star performer because although his lines were too long he did them without any flinch.
The dancers went into trances telling stories through various Botswana dancers. There was tsutsube, setapa, phathisi, borankana, dikwaere and contemporary dances. Polka was missing. The dances told stories set at traditional Setswana homestead, about farming, gathering, hunting and just having a good time.
The climax of the show was when the rain fell on stage. It was a rather improved version of a scene from Pula when Mophato made it rain in Maitisong. With great production, at ITB Berlin the rain on stage was beautiful to watch. It was a torrential downpour, lightening and thundering angrily as dancers continued to dance under it. It was surreal. It was that moment that I felt privileged and lucky to witness such amazing production about home from young Batswana.
At the end, after the rain, the beautiful rainbow over great plains the dancers formed a kgotla under a super full moon and invited the visibly impressed President Khama on stage.
Batswana in diaspora residing in Europe who made the trip to the opening night were in tears after the show. They said they have never been brought so close to home like the #ilovebotswana ensemble did in Berlin. Although they missed home, they left the show with heads held high and proud about Botswana. But I kept thinking, I almost missed it.