Wild Dog, a fierce new muscular work by Tavaziva Dance about the beauty and elegance of one of Africa’s most endangered species, is to embark on a 20-date UK tour, including the Bridport Arts Centre on February 6th 2010.
Wild Dog, the follow up to the company’s highly successful Heart of Darkness, features seven high-octane dancers, and delves deep into the unknown and articulation of the beast. Tavaziva implores audiences to join the dramatic dancers as their bodies pulsate and vibrate against the mind-blowing soundtrack cut and arranged by award-winning Zimbabwean-born choreographer and composer Bawren Tavaziva. “My inspiration for this new work,” says Bawren, “came when I looked at aspects of my culture being eroded and becoming extinct. That led me to examine the fate of the wild dogs of Africa – the Imbwamupengo – whose very existence is threatened.”
There were once 500,000 African Wild Dogs – also know as the Painted Wolf and Cape Hunting Dog – and packs of 100 or more were not uncommon. Now there are fewer than 5,000. Because of land clearance, urbanisation, and other factors, Africa's once-great herds of grazing animals are now restricted to scattered populations in parks and reserves. As their prey goes, so do the dogs, many being (often illegally) snared, shot, and poisoned by farmers. However, The Painted Dog Conservation (PDC) effort, based in Hwange National Park, western Zimbabwe, is working with local communities to create new strategies for conserving the wild dog and its habitat.
Resident in the UK since 1994, Bawren Tavaziva was born in a rural village near Masvingo in Zimbabwe in 1976. At the age of four his parents decided their family of four boys and three girls needed to move to Harare, where his father found work in the city. Football, Michael Jackson, New Edition and Kung Fu movies viewed at the local community hall in the Harare suburb of Tafara provided his artistic inspiration. Bawren practised the dance styles, karate moves and football skills in the streets where the children of the neighbourhood gathered. As Bawren reached his teens he was drawn to a dance programme created by The National Ballet, targeting talented under-privileged youngsters. He was soon selected to join the City Youth Dance Group where the most talented received extra classes. Within two years Bawren was selected as an apprentice to work with Tumbuka Dance Company, where he remained for five years, touring extensively, visiting the African sub-continent, including South Africa, Botswana, Angola and the Ivory Coast, and Europe, including France, Germany, Switzerland and the UK. In 1995 Bawren was awarded a scholarship to attend the Montpellier Choreographic Institute’s Summer Festival in France. In 1998 Bawren moved to the UK where he has worked with Sakoba Dance Theatre, JazzXchange, Carol Brown, Phoenix Dance and Union Dance Company. He formed Tavaziva Dance in 2004, following being nominated as a finalist for The Place Prize Award.