Vincent Mantsoe
Vincent Mantsoe grew up in Soweto, South Africa. Mantsoe learned to dance through youth clubs, street dancing and music videos. He also participated in the traditional rituals involving song and dance that were practiced by the women in his family, who were traditional healers.
In 1990, Mantsoe won a scholarship to Sylvia Glasser’s Moving Into Dance Company. There, he began to explore the possibility of merging street dance with traditional dance. From 1997 until 2001, Mantsoe was associate artistic director of MID. Mantsoe is primarily a solo performer; he has also created work for ensembles including Dance Theatre of Harlem in New York City and COBA (Collective of Black Artists) in Toronto, Canada.
Mantsoe’s choreography combines traditional, contemporary African dance with Asian and ballet influences in a cross-cultural Afro-fusion style. He acknowledges the influence of spirituality in his creative work. He describes his dance as a process of “borrowing” from the “ancestors.” He notes the importance of understanding and appreciating the sources of his traditional movements.
I enjoy his dancing because it is very slow so you can focus on his movements. Also, I appreciate that he is a solo dancer so you can focus on him and not multiple dancers.
References:
http://artsalive.ca/en/dan/meet/bios/artistDetail.asp?artistID=155
