MAIA JORDAAN ~ Rhodes University, South Africa

Director/choreographer, producer, performer, set/costume designer, stage manager, company manager, marketing manager, teacher and researcher…

I have been performing as long as I can remember… My life has been filled with a searching and yearning for a performance ‘style’ in which I feel at home. My search led me to a practice-based Masters in Contemporary Performance. And whilst theorizing performance, live art, presence and ‘the real’ I finally felt I had arrived home!

(This was not new to me – it was just that I hadn’t seen what was right in front of me).

I am currently completing my thesis dissertation entitled: The Empty Space Filled ~ ‘Concept and Presence’ reconsidered in Contemporary South African dance/performance in which I explore Lepecki’s proposals on the characteristics of contemporary dance/performance to three South African works:

Robin Orlin’s daddy, i’ve seen this piece six times before and i still don’t know why they’re hurting each other (2000), and
The First Physical Theatre Company’s 16 Kinds of Emptiness (2006).

Some of my original works:

Naartjiedreams of a Ballerinagirl (2006) - above
A nostalgic journey into memory and longing.

Love in the time of malaria (2006)
A deconstruction of the debilitating effects of malaria.

Stille Waters (2006)
A site specific work performed in a vast white landscape (a kaolin quarry) exploring the depths of imaginary fear.

After the fall (2000)
A site-specific work performed in an abandoned rail-shed and shunting yard, incorporating installation art by award winning artist Tanya Poole.

Hole in your eye (1999)
A site-specific work performed in a dance studio examining the notion of dance = movement.

All Images Copyright 2006 Gregor Rohrig