VIA KATLEHONG / PAULO AZEVEDO

For over thirty years, the South African dance company Via Katlehong has championed pantsula, a dance of protest that arose in the townships at the outskirts of Johannesburg during apartheid. The company now regularly collaborates with guest choreographers and welcomes new, contemporary approaches. For the first time ever, the troupe has formed bonds with Brazil by inviting the choreographer Paulo Azevedo, a major figure of urban Brazilian culture whose work is inspired by the violence and social divisions in his country. In dubbing this work tamUjUntU – a visual and phonetic adaptation of the Brazilian expression “we are together” – the artist upholds the bonds of solidarity and friendship above and beyond boundaries and cultures, here through dance. In its melding of Brazilian and South African experiences, the choreography becomes living matter through which a shared memory of diaspora pulsates. On stage, the bodies assert their power, their desires, and the utter joy of being together. In celebrating the wealth of urban dance, from passinho to funk and pantsula to amapiano, the latest evolution in South African house, tamUjUntU generates a fusion that is intense, free-spirited, and generous.

The teams at La Villette extend their sincere thoughts to the family and colleagues of Buru Mohlabane (1983–2025), co-director of Via Katlehong alongside Steven Faleni.