Izithukuthuku: The Tattered Soul of the Worker

Dressed in their parents’ clothes and surrounded by typewriters and sewing machines turned into instruments, a new generation confronts the systems of labour they have inherited. Choreographer Vusi Mdoyi, director Phala Ookeditse Phala and dramaturg Jeremy Nedd weave dance, spoken word and performance into a layered reflection on labour, inequality and what is passed down from generation to generation.

Mdoyi’s movement language brings together the energetic South African dance style isiPantsula with traditional forms such as ndlamu, setapa, tsutsube and toitoi. Together, these styles become a language of resistance, memory and survival. The percussive sounds of the city reverberate throughout: machines, bodies, voices. Raw, rhythmic and inescapable.

Izithukuthuku: The Tattered Soul of the Worker examines what capitalism does to the soul of the migrant worker. It speaks of cities that promise opportunity while continuing to run on inequality, and of work that lodges itself in bodies, dreams and generations. Who is the machine actually running for?

Vusi Mdoyi is a dancer, choreographer and artistic director of VAP Dance Academy, as well as co-founder of the Impilo Mapantsula Global Movement. Growing up in a township, he developed a deep connection to isiPantsula, a dance form shaped by culture, politics and history. With more than 24 years of experience, Mdoyi brings this tradition to theatres, communities and academic contexts.

Phala Ookeditse Phala is a multi-award-winning storyteller, playwright, theatre-maker, dramaturg and director. His work has been recognised in South Africa, the USA, the Czech Republic, Australia and Scotland. He is Co-Director of Noma Yini and has worked with The Centre for the Less Good Idea as an Animator. His practice centres emotionally and psychologically layered storytelling as a distinctly African aesthetic, while exploring ways of making performance that challenge conventional forms.

Jeremy Nedd is a choreographer and dancer from Brooklyn who lives and works in Basel. He is affiliated with Trajal Harrell’s Zürich Dance Ensemble and has previously appeared at Noorderzon with works including How a Falling Star Lit Up the Purple Sky. For Izithukuthuku: The Tattered Soul of the Worker, he joins the artistic team as dramaturg.