U.S. Premiere of THE ECSTATIC is Coming to OZ Arts Nashville in May

Contemporary arts center OZ Arts Nashville will present the U.S. Premiere of The Ecstatic, an internationally-acclaimed collaboration between Johannesburg-based dance collective Impilo Mapantsula and Basel-based choreographer Jeremy Nedd, on May 1 & 2. Drawing inspiration from the lightning-fast footwork of the Pantsula dance form developed as an act of resistance during the 1950's and 60's in South Africa, the American-born choreographer saw echoes of Pantsula in the Pentecostal praise break often seen in African-American churches. The Ecstatic fuses the two transcendent dance moments, with six skilled dancers slipping into a trance-like state inspired by movement, feeling, and music. The engagement at OZ Ars Nashville is the only opportunity American audiences will have to see this work in the U.S. this year.

Pantsula is a South African percussive street dance style that emerged in South Africa's Black townships as an urgent, high-energy dance and cultural response to apartheid-era forced removals. The dance form evolved into a contemporary activist counterculture characterized by a number of specific characteristics, such as cheering and challenging one another-but also by a bold display of pride and self-confidence. This uniquely South African form is juxtaposed with soaring Pentecostal "praise breaks," a moment of pause, a break in the service where the dancing body coalesces with the music, blurring the lines between ecstatic and cathartic.

This international collaboration with American-born choreographer Jeremy Nedd is a high-octane celebration of the youth-driven culture of Pantsula, which is rooted in high-speed virtuosic footwork but has also given rise to its own lifestyle, language, music, and fashion. In the final days of Apartheid, the movement gave a voice to a whole generation. Now, the six members of Impilo Mapantsula, led by acclaimed South African choreographer and performer Vusi Mdoyi, make their U.S. Debut in Nashville performing The Ecstatic.