KMDT Performance
VIGOUR. EMPATHY. POWER. SENSITIVITY. AN INTERFLOW OF CULTURE AND UNITY.
KMDT’S WORK IS LIFE IN TRANSITION. UNIFIED BY SPIRIT, MUSIC AND THE DANCE.
Kennedy Muntanga Dance Theatre (KMDT) is a project based company founded by Kennedy
Junior Muntanga in 2018. KMDT takes stories inspired by the strength of community and
culture and perform them through tales that represent relationships we encounter in our lives. KMDT aims to connect visually and audibly the audiences personal experiences of emotions through the expression of movement and recognise them to bring communities together and foreshadow the results of togetherness.
Olivia Grassot joined the team in 2019 as associate creative and performer.
Greater Than Lion
This next work, 'Greater Than Lion' is inspired by two tales, an African story of how a Hare tricks a mighty Lion, and the Biblical tale of Jonah and the Whale. This work follows a woman suffering with grief after losing her young child.
This work is in collaboration with: set designer Mathilde Heu, Lighting designer Ryan Joseph Stafford, Fashion Designer Gabrielle Venguer and Musicians Tommy Khosla & Maia Sophie Largo-Phillips.
It is supported by the ACE funding, Impermanence Dance and the Messums Gallery Wiltshire.
Genesis
'Genesis' is a reflection on humanity and our unpredictable future. The work is influenced by the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and uses our world today as a comparison, searching for a way to find redemption through love and dance.
The opening of Genesis was performed at the Fringe Festival 2019 (Edinburg) in a double Bill of contemporary dance theatre.
"Impressive new young contemporary dance talent on stage at Greenside Venue at Edinburgh Fringe 2019 this morning with Kennedy Muntanga Dance Theatre’s Sonder and Genesis"
- Darren Henley CEO Arts Council England
choreography:
Kennedy Junior Muntanga
Rehearsal director:
Olivia Grassot
Performers:
Harri Claxton, Julia Kayser, Elisa Ingrassia, Darren Payne, Matt Bell, Jessica Chambers, Kennedy Junior Muntanga, Olivia Grassot
Nebuchadnezzar
Nebuchadnezzar is a choreographic work of 11 dancers interpreting through movements the biblical tale of the king who falls from grace- rewritten by Ndumiso Peter Ndlovu. The story is about waiting, the noise that enveloppes the silence and the power of devotion. The story is about why we dance beneath the tree.
'Nebuchadnezzar from the Kennedy Muntanga Dance Theatre was an impressive closer... In a cold white mist, the large company of dynamic young dancers express the tortures of love and the depredations of millennial life. The movements combine abjection, alienation and combat: thigh-slapping, stamping, floor-beating hakas, repulsed contortions, face-down reptilian crawling and sweaty, roiling flips...'
-The Guardian
choreography:
Kennedy Junior Muntanga
Rehearsal director:
Olivia Grassot
Writer:
Ndumiso Peter Ndlovu
Music:
Emily Izen Row
Performers:
Jessica Chambers, Katerina Chaida, Kassi O-J, Ruth Chaing, Benjamin Head, Dorna Ashory, Luca Delvyn Sierra, Matt Bell, Elisa Ingrassia, Kostas Phoenix, Kennedy Junior Muntanga, Olivia Grassot
