Influx Controls: I wanna be wanna be

Identity and its ambiguities

The choreographer Boyzie Cekwana grew up in Soweto and started his dance career in South Africa. Since then, his work has been shown all over the world; in Europe this includes the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, the ImpulsTanz festival in Vienna, and the Kunstenfestivaldesarts in Brussels. In his productions, Cekwana links the history of black South Africans to the universal human condition. His recurring themes are the identity crisis of the post-Apartheid period and the cultural heritage of his country and his Africa.

In his new creation, Influx Controls: I wanna be wanna be, he appears alone on stage. He takes his inspiration from a journey he made to the Democratic Republic of Congo and the work is founded on a deep indignation at the dehumanisation of Africa, its peoples and its heritage, both in the past and at present. This solo, the first part of a new trilogy, plays on identities and their ambiguities. The title refers to an Apartheid law that denied black Africans access to certain, richer, parts of South Africa, and at the same time sounds like a call for the right to humanity.

‘I wanna be' is that asphyxiated cry for total and ultimate assumption of full humanity. 'I wanna be' is  I wanna be white, since whiteness is goodness, rightness; whiteness is having, in a world of have-not ness. 'I wanna be' is I wanna have, for to have is to be. 'I wanna be' is I wanna be human. 'I wanna be' is I wanna be. Let me be.  -- Boyzie Cekwana