{"id":657,"date":"2015-07-09T22:23:56","date_gmt":"2015-07-09T20:23:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=657"},"modified":"2015-07-09T22:23:56","modified_gmt":"2015-07-09T20:23:56","slug":"silent-prints-leaves-no-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=657","title":{"rendered":"Silent Prints leaves no mark"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/silent-prints.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-658\" src=\"http:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/silent-prints-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"silent-prints\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/silent-prints-300x225.jpg 300w, https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/07\/silent-prints.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a>I usually don\u2019t like an entire production. There\u2019s often something I\u2019d have done differently, i.e. &#8230; subjectivity. My approach: if at least 85% of a production speaks to me, I don\u2019t feel the need to pick apart the other 15% \u2026 that\u2019s negligible nitty-gritty and for a director\u2019s post-performance notes.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately <em>Silent Prints<\/em> did not work well enough to crack my\u00a085% requisite\u2026<\/p>\n<p><em>[Side note: I wish the festival hadn\u2019t abandoned noting \u201camateur \/ student \/ professional\u201d in the programme \u2013 this helps us all know what we\u2019re going in to.]<\/em><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The good:<br \/>\nThe dancer, Khaya Ndlovu, who also directed and choreographed, is a very good mover. She performs with great presence and is a highly-skilled dancer. Her co-performer, Zanele Ndlovu, is also gifted with strong presence. The lighting design creates some lovely states. The idea of the silhouette behind the drawn on Bantu Identity Card was interesting. It invokes imagery of the dark shadow left on all people who suffered under having to carry a dompas.<\/p>\n<p>The not-so-good:<br \/>\nAlthough I love fragmented work, it must have strong links. <em>Silent Prints<\/em> needs to find its links otherwise it comes across as a series of random images. The voiceover seems to \u201cexplain\u201d what the work is about\u2026 which shouldn\u2019t be necessary if the work hung together strongly. Khaya Ndlovu and Zanele Ndlovu mouth along to some of the words and the singing, respectively. This isn\u2019t necessary. While Khaya moves, we can understand that the voiceover is connected to her dance; and Zanele\u2019s voice sounds wonderful and shouldn\u2019t be drowned out by the song played over the sound system. Although Khaya is a great dancer, the choreography seems\u00a0one-dimensional\u00a0and reliant on facial expressions to portray her\u00a0angst.<\/p>\n<p>I can see where <em>Silent Prints<\/em>\u00a0wants to go, and its potential for\u00a0getting there. There are some great moments and ideas\u2026 but overall the production needs editing, stronger connection between \u2018scenes\u2019 and an outside eye to help tie it all together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>&#8211; Sarah Roberson<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Click <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalartsfestival.co.za\/events\/silent-prints\/\">here<\/a> for production info. One show left on\u00a011 July @ 18.00 @ Centenary Hall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I usually don\u2019t like an entire production. There\u2019s often something I\u2019d have done differently, i.e. &#8230; subjectivity. My approach: if at least 85% of a production speaks to me, I &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/?p=657\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"categories":[10],"tags":[577,750],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=657"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecritter.co.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}