Durban grans inspire compelling contemporary dance piece

If the title of his new innovative dance piece is anything to go by, choreographer David Gouldie doesn’t want you hanging onto your handbag.

He would rather have you tripping the light fantastic or at the very least, tapping your feet, no matter how old you are.

Commissioned by the Playhouse Company as part of its annual celebration of women in the arts, Gouldie’s dance piece Handbag - Don’t clutch me too tight is based on the lives of the elderly women who live in old age homes around Durban.

For the past month Goldie and his troupe of 14 dancers, drawn from both the Playhouse Dance Residency and the Flatfoot Dance Company, have been visiting TAFTA retirement homes, offering dance-exercise classes to the residents.

It is a project close to his heart. “The classes are about many different elements: dance, rhythm, co-ordination, stimulation but mostly it’s about having fun. It has been so inspiring. Even the ladies who are wheelchair bound or fragile have been responsive.”

The visits also included engaging with the residents. Following each class the dancers had one-on-one chats, documenting and recording the life stories of their audience.

“It has been inspiring to open the door to finding out who these woman are,” says Gouldie, “the stories we got have informed this work – they have been the thread within the performance. There is so much to be celebrated but also sadness and loneliness. I’ve tried to incorporate the full circle.”

This year the Playhouse Women’s Festival is accommodating schoolchildren and Gouldie says he has kept that in mind. “Many young people are uncomfortable with facing mortality. I spoke to one of the older women who was so matter of fact about it. She said it was important for the youth not to be excluded from death; it is part of the process of life. It does not need to be depressing, she said - dialogue makes for healing and sharing.”

The staging of Handbag promises to be as compelling as the dance itself. The score is classically inspired; parts of the production are layered with audio from the interviews with the women. The show opens with a short documentary on the making of Handbag, explaining where the work came from and how it developed.

“We have stripped the stage and left it completely bare,” says Gouldie, “and we have some of the TAFTA residents sitting on stage, watching the dance as if they are the audience to their own stories.”

Gouldie says he and his dancers have become emotionally invested in the project. “We walked the journey together. Now I feel I need to be the champion of the grans. This is a project that I’m determined to continue.”

• The 21st Annual South African Women’s Arts Festival runs until August 19.

• 'Handbag - Don’t clutch me too tight' is on at the Playhouse Drama Theatre on Friday, August 11 at 7pm and Saturday, August 12 at 2pm and 7pm. Tickets at Computicket.