| In 1998, Loveness founded
the Kgotso African Dance Theatre as a vehicle for
bringing works by women artists to Zimbabwe's stage.
She choreographed Kgotso's first production, Chakwatu.
In 2001, Ms. Wesa became her country's first woman
theatrical producer when she brought her dance drama
Brooms to Amakhosi. As
well as being the producer, she wrote, choreographed,
directed, designed sets and costumes and played
one of the lead roles. Loveness Wesa has pioneered
a style of dance that she calls African
Dance Theatre. She merges a variety of
traditional dances from throughout the African continent
to create a coherent story. Though the dances are
African and the lyrics of songs and chants are in
their original languages, she tells her stories
entirely through dance and music, making them comprehensible
to any audience.
In December 2004, Loveness Wesa made her American
debut as a choreographer with her production Langivela
Khona (Where I Come From), a dance
theatre piece based on the stories of young African
refugees and immigrants living in Portland, Oregon.
This community arts project, which was sponsored
by the Regional Arts and Culture Council, developed
out of dance classes she was teaching for African
refugees. The production involved twenty-one performers,
both students and professional, from nine different
countries and ten schools in Portland.
Loveness has recorded five and released three albums
of her original compositions. Tovera
(2001) is a collection of music inspired by traditional
songs and Brooms (2002)
includes her renditions of songs from the play.
These albums include songs in Shona, Ndebele, Venda,
Sotho and English. In 2004, Ms Wesa went back to
Zimbabwe to record her third album Mukadzi WaMambo,
she returned to Zimbabwe during the summer of 2005
to record and produce her fourth and fifth albums,
Mvura and Ndanda.
In July 2005, Ms Wesa was invited by California
State University Summer Arts to join Amakhosi founder
Cont Mhlanga in teaching workshops on African Theatre.
Loveness performed a solo show of her original music
and dances at the Cal State Fresno program and taught
classes on the use of dancing, singing and storytelling
in African drama.
In addition to performing, Loveness Wesa teaches
classes in dance, music and traditional crafts. |
