Blog
Deep Night preview
By Romaana Naidoo
Visually explicit, contemporary dance, by four talented artists take to the stage in Joburg, unravelling the impulse ordinary humans are faced with on a daily basis during the “witching time of night”, when reality is blurred.
This fast paced theatre production, Deep Night, is choreographed by frequently intertwining bodies to sexually depict the impact HIV and AIDS plays in all our lives.
Set against the backdrop of a video installation of a Joburg nightclub, three provocatively dressed “sisters” depict through movement, certain issues facing party-goers who become so intoxicated that they lose track of reality...
As part of the Life Beats - ARTS. JOURNALISM. HIV workshop, participating journalists wrote about PJ Sabbagha and his Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative's dance work, Deep Night. This is journalist Romaana Naidoo's impression, after seeing the piece and speaking to the performers and choreographers.
Lessons of the Deep Night
By Molebatsi Manzi
If I had to describe PJ Sabbagha’s Deep Night, I would call it ‘The thin line between fantasy and reality at almost midnight’. I have a feeling he would agree with me.
The theatre piece is set outside a nightclub. The use of multimedia, particularly the video projected at the back of the stage, contributes to the argument for reality. However, as soon as the dancers start moving to the unusual choice of music, opera, the lines between reality of a night on the town and the exhausting battle with human emotions and thought becomes blurred...
As part of the Life Beats - ARTS. JOURNALISM. HIV workshop, participating journalists wrote about PJ Sabbagha and his Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative's dance work, Deep Night. This is journalist Molebatsi Manzi's impression, after seeing the piece and speaking to the performers and choreographers.
Debating manhood at Orange Farm
By Wilson Johwa
At Orange Farm, a township outside Johannesburg, boys barely out of their teens, and fully grown men sit together in a queue as they wait to be circumcised.
Had I not arrived at 9am to find a fully formed queue of men - and boys - I would not have believed that this winter an average of just over 100 men and adolescents are circumcised every day. This is twice the average number recorded per day in summer...
HIV/AIDS and the Media Project fellow, Wilson Johwa, recounts his experiences at the Bophelo Pele circumcision centre at Orange Farm.
SA youth lead unsafe revolution against HIV
By Lungi Langa
A Times article recently revealed important information about the significant strides made in halting the spread of HIV. And, this appears to be a revolution led by the youth.
“Young people have shown that they can be agents of change in the prevention revolution,” the report said.
Reader comments on the article, however made me question exactly what kind of revolution the youth were really leading against HIV.
A snip by any other name?
By Wilson Johwa
Imagine being born circumcised. Apparently, that is something of a common claim.
Dirk Taljaard, manager of the Bophelo Pele project - a male circumcision research centre at Orange Farm near Soweto - has heard this claim one too many times.
The length of the foreskin varies among men and does not always fully cover the head, leading to the perception among those with a naturally shorter foreskin that they have been naturally circumcised. “I’ve heard this many times, not once,” says Taljaard.
