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| Assembly roadshow crew: S’bu, Luke, Khanyiselo, Wonder, Ricardo, Earl, Lora-lee and Teado . |
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In 2010, in order to promote eMzantsi intercultural activities amongst high school youth, we gave a series of assemblies in all 5 high schools of the south peninsula during July and August. The mixed team of music project performers – both male and female vocalists rapping in three languages in a range of genres from gospel to kwaito – demonstrated the eMzantsi intercultural message of dynamic fun. They offered learners options of joining the music project or signing up to suggest a role for themselves in the high school parade involvement.
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| Masi High | Earl, Khanyiselo, Luke | Ocean View High |
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| Muizenberg High | Fish Hoek High | Simonstown School |
Due to the new demands of the 2010 theme story ‘Step Up’, theatre director and longtime eMzantsi volunteer participant Janis Merand (leader of Women on Djembe) was invited to assist with artistic direction and coordination of the parade narrative. Following our series of promotional assemblies, she worked in partnership with eMzantsi staff member Khanyiselo Silo to assign roles to different high school participant volunteer groups. eMzantsi does not proscribe, but ‘makes a space for people to express themselves’. Thus we patiently waited to see what developed in the space we facilitated for creation between high school learners.
The ongoing teachers’ strike interrupted the recruitment drive, but after Sept exams and the school holidays, Khanyiselo and Janis were able to arrange a series of rehearsals where the mapiko crew taught learners from Masi and Muizenberg High how to bring the four giant Ubuntu puppets to life. They were called Ubuntu puppets because they required a team to work together to animate them.
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| Masi High School learners bringing the Bride, Slangvanger, Makhulu and their donkeys to life | ||
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| Janis enabling Thando to get to grips with his feminine side as an ‘Auntie’ of the Bride | ||
Through October and November, Janis led rehearsals at the Living Way Training Campus where the mapiko workshop is situated, practising the key transformation scene. Below, the Snake King is transformed into a Rainbow Prince when the Bride bestows on him the Ruby Heart of hope (given to her by her grandmother Makhulu).
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| Practising the moment when the Snake King meets the Bride | ||
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| and she gives him the Ruby Heart given to her by Makhulu and places it on the Snake King’s head | |||
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| which allows him to shed his skin and transform from Snake King to Rainbow Prince | |||
In addition, Fish Hoek High, Ocean View High and Masi High learners joined the music programme (notably two rock bands from the former and several female vocalists from the latter), and the Vuvuzela Orchestra from Muizenberg High also took part in the parade.