Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Trending
  • Wall-to-Wall Creation
  • Covid grant should be increased to at least R413, say civil society groups
  • National shutdown goes off peacefully in Makhanda
  • A bond forged by mentoring
  • Ibe yimpumelelo itumente yolutsha eQhorha
  • A good financial planner is indispensable
  • Exciting encounters in LFA Premier League weekend games
  • Thembie is working towards STARDOM!
Facebook Twitter Instagram
Grocott's Mail
  • NEWS
    • Courts & Crime
    • Features
    • Politics
    • People
    • Health & Well-being
  • SPORT
    • News
    • Results
    • Sports Diary
    • Club Contacts
    • Columns
    • Sport Galleries
    • Sport Videos
  • OPINION
    • Election Connection
    • Makana Voices
    • Deur ‘n Gekleurde Bril
    • Newtown… Old Eyes
    • Incisive View
    • Your Say
  • ARTSLIFE
    • Cue
    • Makana Sharp!
    • Visual Art
    • Literature
    • Food & Fun
    • Festivals
    • Community Arts
    • Going Places
  • OUR TOWN
    • What’s on
    • Spiritual
    • Emergency & Well-being
    • Safety
    • Civic
    • Municipality
    • Weather
    • Properties
      • Grahamstown Properties
    • Your Town, Our Town
  • OUTSIDE
    • Enviro News
    • Gardening
    • Farming
    • Science
    • Conservation
    • Motoring
    • Pets/Animals
  • ECONOMIX
    • Business News
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Personal Finance
  • EDUCATION
    • Education NEWS
    • Education OUR TOWN
    • Education INFO
  • Covid-19
  • EDITORIAL
Grocott's Mail
You are at:Home»NEWS»Art shows us how to love each other, Ace
NEWS

Art shows us how to love each other, Ace

Grocott's Mail ContributorsBy Grocott's Mail ContributorsOctober 31, 2019Updated:March 23, 2020No Comments4 Mins Read
Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
Ayanda “Fire Starter” Nondlwana posing for the camera at The Bridge Sport Bar, where he used to hold the Makhanda Rap and Dance Battles (MRDB) events every month. Photo: Azlan Makalima

By DAVE MANN

How do we begin to make sense of this? When I first heard the news, I did what most people do – I pored through old photographs, read the many tributes that were being written for you online, and combed through the local news for any further details on the circumstances of your passing. I mourned, in my own private ways. I tried to write about the grief, but the words wouldn’t come.

Eventually, I returned to our interviews and came across the only remaining recorded interview I have of you, conducted in October 2014. In it, you speak about the late Thozamile “Rocky” Mncongo, and about your trip to Finland with the Via Kasi Movers. You talk about your past – how you had always loved to dance, but found yourself taking on work that wore you down, spiritually, and how you found a way of life worth pursuing through pantsula. How people like Xolile Madinda and Janet Buckland helped you find your passion for performance and teaching.

I remember the day, clearly. We were sitting outside the Rhodes University drama department and you were greeting almost everyone who walked past us. You were laughing, constantly. I was a student journalist with a keen interest in the kind of art that took place outside of conventional theatre and gallery spaces and you were an artist who was more than willing to share your insights about community-based arts and its impact on society.

Listening to that recording in Johannesburg, 33km from where you first started dancing in Soweto, and 989km from where I first met you in Makhanda, I’m amazed at how much love, insight, humour, and compassion you could fit into a simple 53-minute interview. There are certain phrases that make me laugh, others that move me to tears. Here are a few of my favourite quotes from that interview:

“Performing for those kids in Finland made me realise how precious a child is – how a child can bring you peace. It was humanity. It was true love. That’s what keeps me going.”

“Art is a tool to sharpen your future. It’s a tool that helps you understand how to communicate with people, how to get along with people, to understand people. That’s the key. That’s the way forward.”

“Art is something that unites people… Art shows us how to love each other and how to appreciate each other. That’s what I’ve learned and that’s what I continue to learn. That’s my life. It’s why me and the late Rocky say: ‘If you take away dance from us, if you take away theatre, then there’s no us.’”

“There are days when I really miss [Rocky]. When I perform, I can feel him in my feet. I used to be able to say ‘Mfethu, I really need you’ and he would be there. Now, he’s not here anymore, but he’ll always be with me. He’ll stay with me until I lay my flesh down. He’s part of me, he’s part of my life.”

You said that talking about Rocky in that interview helped you to make sense of his passing. That when you talk about him, it helps you to accept that he’s no longer here, physically.

Listening to that interview, looking through those images, and writing these words is my own way of arriving at some kind of acceptance, I think. The impact you had on the people, the spaces, and the collective community of Makhanda was so profound. The silence you leave behind is overwhelming.
Right now, I’m not sure how to continue. I can find your words and your passion in everything that I do, and it makes it all the more difficult to carry on without you.

Thank you for everything, Ace. I promise to honour your spirit in everything that I write.

Previous ArticleWorld title will need Rassie masterstroke
Next Article Big-screen rugby and affordable fun for kids
Grocott's Mail Contributors

Grocott's Mail Contributors includes content submitted by members of the public, and public and private institutions and organisations - regular and occasional, expert and citizen, opinion and analysis.

Comments are closed.

Tweets by Grocotts
Newsletter



Listen

The Rhodes University Community Engagement Division has launched Engagement in Action, a new podcast which aims to bring to life some of the many ways in which the University interacts with communities around it. Check it out below.

Humans of Makhanda

Humans of Makhanda

Weather    |     About     |     Advertise     |     Subscribe     |     Contact     |     Support Grocott’s Mail

© 2023 Maintained by School of Journalism & Media Studies.

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.