Gregory Maqoma’s highly anticipated show “Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro” is postponed due to the imminent threat of the Covid-19 third wave.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced stricter lockdown regulations on Sunday, which include attendance of indoor events limited to 100 people.
Joburg theatre came to a decision to postpone the show to allow theatre-goers to experience the magic of the production with a bigger audience on the iconic Mandela stage.
“Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro” which was set to take place from June 18, will move to a new date in August.
The show runs from August 27 till September 5.
“While adhering to the Covid-19 legislation and following the President's instructions so that we can overcome this unprecedented pandemic together with the Vuyani Dance Theatre, we decided to postpone the show for a bigger audience that our patrons are accustomed to,” said Chief Executive Officer of Joburg City Theatres, Xoliswa Nduneni-Ngema.
The production is a unique creative fusion of contemporary African dance led by the renowned Gregory Maqoma alongside the multi-Grammy award-winning, Soweto Gospel Choir.
Vuyani Dance Theatre shares a state-of-the-art, visually stunning full-length work that brings literature to life with 20 dynamic dancers and 20 enchanting voices.
“Cion: Requiem of Ravel’s Boléro”, draws inspiration from the character Toloki in South African author Zakes Mda’s novels “Cion and Ways of Dying”.
In this piece, the message of death and its dire consequences are infused through a lament to be able to confront a universe in which the age-old tropes of greed, power and religion have given rise to loss of life not as a natural phenomenon.
Toloki, the professional mourner, weaves through this virtual landscape of dissolution giving rise to a catharsis of universal grief that will conquer the sadness, the hard reality continuing to permeate the living confronted by death that is not their own, often so unexpected, brutal and merciless.
After gracing the stages of numerous European festivals and a US tour, the production returns to Johannesburg audiences for another amplified season of this rousing dance theatre work that stands for hope against the darkness.
Affected ticket holders will be contacted directly by the theatre’s box office.
For more information, visit Joburg Theatre.