Talented Mwezi Arts acrobats

The three stand on top of each other, stepping on each other’s shoulders. A few seconds later, they start falling like a tree. As the one who was on top is about to hit the French Cultural Centre (FCC) cement floor, he somersaults, and sits down. No bones broken.

In another move, one of them holds a bicycle tyre ring. The other two jump into the ring, and somersault to the other side.

All the time, in the 15 or so minutes that they spend on stage, the audience to the official opening of the Blantyre Arts Festival (BAF) on Thursday last week were baffled by the daring spectacle in front of them. Some patrons shouted the three should get off the stage, as their antics were too daring.

For one of the acrobats, Robert Magasa, that is the DNA of their game.

“We do acrobatics, to a point where people think we will break our necks. If it is not daring, it not acrobatics,” says Magasa.

What is touching is not just how flexible the acrobats are with their bones. It is the story that they tell as they combine choreography, acrobatics, dance and theatre. That Thursday night, they were telling a hearty story of survival of the fittest in a physical performance titled Ganyu.

Their act, caused emcee Kenny Klipps to declare: “This is so amazing. A pool of talent. Imagine we have Malawians who catch the drift in ballet just as these performers have done.”

Close to Magasa a day after the performance was his only other colleague, Joshua Bhima, as the other member of the trio, Lilongwe-based James Frank Phiri, had left earlier. They trade as Mwezi Arts and they were one of the eight drama groups at BAF.

In the cause of the interview, musician Ben Mankhamba commented: “You guys are so amazing. Keep this work growing.”

How did they start out?

Joshua and Robert share a common background. They were both born in 1985 and have stayed for a long time at Zingwangwa in Blantyre, a township referred to as Trenchtown, the popular Jamaican ghetto. They have both acted in various drama groups, including Wakhumbata and Nanzikambe.

They both studied dance at Zimbabwe’s National Ballet Centre, which is run by the country’s Dance Trust.

As if that were not enough, they also appear in the Story Workshop movie on caregivers, Wokomaatani: Who Cares. And they are brothers in Story Workshop’s Timasukirane.

“We knew each other at Nanzikambe. But to come together as Mwezi Arts, it was our director Stanley Mambo,” said Bhima, who has been on cast for several Nanzikambe plays as choreographer and actor.

One of their most remembered acts was in Nanzikambe’s Mercy Madonna of Malawi. In the play, which was performed in Edinburgh, Magasa plays the part of Madonna.

Says the 27-year-old: “It was a hefty task. I spent time watching her music videos and documentaries. Her character got so much into me so much so that patrons to the performance said the only thing that gave me away were my hands. I remember after the performance, we were in a joint and I had not really got off the Material Girl gait and one man thought I was gay.”

Joshua believes combining acrobatics, drama and music sets a sharper edge to their act. That, he says, is so because dance is more than words.

“Body movement explains some of the things we can’t say with words. That is very basic. How many times have you said yes or no with your head?” quips Joshua.

Magasa agrees, adding through dance, he is better understood. “Acrobatics, on the other hand, gives people a wow factor. It is something great,” he adds.

Yet, it is on snow that the smallest speck is seen, and their artistic journey is not without hurdles. Joshua and Robert agree it is pretty hard to make ends meet from art. A cry some Malawian artists will bring to your door. Robert adds that is even harder when you are not good enough, for then, no one is ready to hire you.

“But that is no point for me to relent. I love doing what I do and when I concentrate fully, things are OK,” says Joshua, who likes swimming, watching movies and reading novels in his leisure time. Robert, who aspires to become a journalist, observes: “As Malawian artists we must be hungry for more than just money. Let us go beyond money and see that we have a lot of new stories that we can create, new moves of expression which we can take to people out there to enjoy.”

With Mambo directing their act, the group is destined for greater things. They combine various artistic elements: dance, drama, music and acrobatics.

“We wanted to develop something different. We wanted to tell our stories in a particularly interesting way. This is it. We are exploring and there is more in the pandora box, ready to entertain Malawians.”