5.4 million South Africans live with HIV. Windows Into A World tells the story. Yazeed Kamaldien goes behind the scenes.
It isn’t always comfortable talking about HIV/Aids in a country where pointing fingers at the reasons could get you on the wrong side of the politically correct fence. But ignoring this pandemic won’t change the fact that 5.4 million South Africans have HIV, nor will it stop the virus spreading.
The Free Flight Dance Company, founded by Adele Blank in 1987, has taken an advocacy role. This loose collective of dancers has choreographed work at a time of HIV/Aids information fatigue, and a seemingly complacent public discourse in South Africa. The dancers are determined to continue a public dialogue with Windows into a World.
Sannette van der Mescht, the producer, says they researched true stories and interpreted them with dance and text. The audience encounters: “Paula, an infected sex-worker trying to support her children; Sidwell, a taxi driver who has lost his sight but found the voice to bring peace to others; Susan, a professional dancer who has accepted her status and looks towards a bright horizon”.
The dancers aim to capture the “immense reality” that HIV/Aids is for these ordinary South Africans. The narratives further push the “transcendent radiance of the human spirit over adversity”.
“Our messages are very clear. We want to inform the audience that it is easy to get HIV, but also that it is not a death sentence. There is hope. You can live a long and healthy life if you have HIV, but by acting on correct information you can also prevent it if you don’t have it,” says Van Der Mescht.
“Our performance is not all doom and gloom. We have tried to keep the balance between saying that there is hope while not saying that it’s okay or cool to have HIV. We perform to an audience in which there are people who are living with HIV. So we want to be very careful about the messaging.”
The United Nations Population Distribution Fund (UNFPA) initially funded Windows into a World as a means to promote HIV/Aids awareness messages to young people in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu. Mescht says these performances targeted vulnerable youths while the company also aimed to develop audiences.
“We take theatre to people who won’t get a chance to get to established venues in the city,” says Van Der Mescht.
When they performed in the township, they had a voluntary mobile clinic and they teamed up with Partners in Sexual Health and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation to provide free information sessions and HIV tests.
“Some of the audience walked to the clinic after the show to find out their HIV status. We need more people to know their HIV status so that they can take care of themselves and prevent the virus from spreading.
“But we also need to deal with the stigmatisation of HIV/Aids. We found youth that didn’t want to go for TB testing because of the stigma that if you have TB then you also have Aids,” says Van Der Mescht.
Apathy, complacency or misinformation; these are the challenges that come with talking about HIV/Aids.
One pensively wishes that Free Flight dances its way through this noise.
– Yazeed Kamaldien is a freelance journalist
It isn’t always comfortable talking about HIV/Aids in a country where pointing fingers at the reasons could get you on the wrong side of the politically correct fence. But ignoring this pandemic won’t change the fact that 5.4 million South Africans have HIV, nor will it stop the virus spreading.
The Free Flight Dance Company, founded by Adele Blank in 1987, has taken an advocacy role. This loose collective of dancers has choreographed work at a time of HIV/Aids information fatigue, and a seemingly complacent public discourse in South Africa. The dancers are determined to continue a public dialogue with Windows into a World.
Sannette van der Mescht, the producer, says they researched true stories and interpreted them with dance and text. The audience encounters: “Paula, an infected sex-worker trying to support her children; Sidwell, a taxi driver who has lost his sight but found the voice to bring peace to others; Susan, a professional dancer who has accepted her status and looks towards a bright horizon”.
The dancers aim to capture the “immense reality” that HIV/Aids is for these ordinary South Africans. The narratives further push the “transcendent radiance of the human spirit over adversity”.
“Our messages are very clear. We want to inform the audience that it is easy to get HIV, but also that it is not a death sentence. There is hope. You can live a long and healthy life if you have HIV, but by acting on correct information you can also prevent it if you don’t have it,” says Van Der Mescht.
“Our performance is not all doom and gloom. We have tried to keep the balance between saying that there is hope while not saying that it’s okay or cool to have HIV. We perform to an audience in which there are people who are living with HIV. So we want to be very careful about the messaging.”
The United Nations Population Distribution Fund (UNFPA) initially funded Windows into a World as a means to promote HIV/Aids awareness messages to young people in Khayelitsha and Gugulethu. Mescht says these performances targeted vulnerable youths while the company also aimed to develop audiences.
“We take theatre to people who won’t get a chance to get to established venues in the city,” says Van Der Mescht.
When they performed in the township, they had a voluntary mobile clinic and they teamed up with Partners in Sexual Health and the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation to provide free information sessions and HIV tests.
“Some of the audience walked to the clinic after the show to find out their HIV status. We need more people to know their HIV status so that they can take care of themselves and prevent the virus from spreading.
“But we also need to deal with the stigmatisation of HIV/Aids. We found youth that didn’t want to go for TB testing because of the stigma that if you have TB then you also have Aids,” says Van Der Mescht.
Apathy, complacency or misinformation; these are the challenges that come with talking about HIV/Aids.
One pensively wishes that Free Flight dances its way through this noise.
– Yazeed Kamaldien is a freelance journalist
