13th Year of South Africa Project Celebrates New Traditions

Theatre Professor Leslie Jacobson brings talent from Bokamoso Youth Centre to GW.

February 8, 2016

SA

Performers from the Bokamoso Youth Centre show off their skills at Betts Theatre. (Logan Werlinger/GW Today).

 
When 20-year-old Solomen Mpho Papo auditioned for the Bokamoso Youth Centre’s annual American tour, he knew how much competition he was up against. More than 40 young South Africans try out for a chance to perform in the United States, and only a lucky 12 are selected.
 
The final group gets to spend three weeks singing and dancing at the St. Andrew’s Episcopal School in Maryland, and then they arrive at the George Washington University for a week-long residency, where they live in residence halls and participate in a musical directed by Professor of Theatre Leslie Jacobson.
 
The performance has become a tradition at the university, and 2016 marks its 13th anniversary. It’s also a massive hit every year. When the Bokamoso youth are onstage, it’s hard to believe they aren’t professionally trained singers and dancers. But their effortless harmonies are raw talent, and their strong, sweeping voices are muscles exercised primarily through local traditions.
 
Mr. Papo said most of the group grew up singing in neighborhood choirs and picking up dance steps from relatives here and there. 
 
He has always loved entertaining people in his hometown of Winterveldt, an impoverished township in South Africa. But he had trouble deciding what he wanted to do as a career and had dropped out of school. He was finding his way again by going to the Bokamoso Youth Centre, an organization that builds leadership skills, provides educational scholarships and unites young people through art.
 
He says the center—and the tour—allowed him to find his voice and figure out his passion.
 
“When I reflect on my life before, I was doing acting and stuff, but I dropped out of school, and that was not a cool thing. Somehow, I’ve been able to discover what I’m good at so I can pursue my skills,” he said.
 
Mr. Papo’s talent was clear to Ms. Jacobson and her professional collaborator Roy Barber, who is also the president of the Bokamoso Youth Centre. They gave him the lead role in “My Own Special Song,” a new musical they wrote about changing traditions in South Africa. Mr. Papo and his cast members premiered the piece this past weekend during two back-to-back performances attended by GW President Steven Knapp and members of the South African embassy. 
 
The play explores the ritual of “lobolo,” a South African custom in which a prospective husband and his family negotiate a price for a bride. Ms. Jacobson had heard about the tradition during her many travels to South Africa, but she wanted to look more closely at what lobolo actually meant in a country evolving so rapidly.
 
“There are very modern young people living in places like Johannesburg, and they seem so 21st-century, but as soon as they get engaged, they have to start thinking about this idea of lobola,” Ms. Jacobson said. “I thought it was interesting to look at the tensions between the old and new ways, and what the generational pulls are.”   
 
The youth at Bokamoso embraced the idea immediately. Bridget Nokuthula Mabaso, one of the performers, said “My Own Special Song” was something she could relate to on a personal level.
 
“Sometimes in South Africa, the parents like us to live their own lives, to do whatever they couldn’t do at our age. It’s like they are living their dreams through us,” she said.
 
Young people from the Bokamoso Youth Centre tour and perform at the George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum. (William Atkins/GW Today).
 
Ms. Mabaso and her fellow cast mates arrived at GW Feb. 1 and immediately began rehearsing. Besides practicing, their six-day residency was packed with other activities, like acting, singing and dance classes, lectures, workshops and dinners with GW students so they could really experience life on campus. 
 
They even dropped in on a ballet dance class, where they taught a room full of students the art of Pantsula, an energetic dance that originated in the black townships of South Africa during apartheid. Much like street dancers and b-boys in the United States, Pantsula brought neighborhoods together in informal competitions. It also gave dancers an outlet to express their frustrations over the country’s forced separation policies. The resulting style of movement is fast-paced, complex and hard to pick up. But somehow, the GW ballet dancers caught on. 
 
“The thing I was amazed about was that they were able to catch every step. Pantsula dancing is so difficult, and we didn’t have a lot of time. But I liked them because they are so fast, and everything they do, they do it with their whole heart,” Mr. Papo said. 
 
Mr. Papo added that he was also encouraged by the passion of students on campus, who seemed to be constantly working and studying.
 
“It’s a motivation for us when we go back that we need to work 10 times harder,” he said. “In South Africa, many students take education seriously, but many don’t. For some of us, this is inspiration to work hard and do anything to be successful—to go all out either academically or vocationally.”
 
Bokamoso performers attend a workshop with GW students. (William Atkins/GW Today).
 
During the weekend, it was the GW community who drew inspiration from the Bokamoso youth. The performers mesmerized crowds with their intricate dance routines, their acting abilities and, perhaps most impressive of all, their powerful voices. Friday’s show ended not with a standing ovation, but a dancing ovation—the entire crowd joined the youth on the dance floor and closed the performance alongside them.  
 
Ms. Jacobson said she’s impressed with the group of students who participate in the performance every year, and hopes they leave with more experiences and a renewed sense of confidence. 
 
“One of the things we really want to do is build leaders, and it seems like that’s happening,” she said.