As Lesole Z. Maine prepares to confront a problem in the world today, he invites us to join him as he illustrates the plight of the homeless. He does this through his art — and with the help of the company Lesole’s Dance Project, which he founded in 2003.
This evening, on the Millennium Stage of the Kennedy Center, audiences will experience the latest in his repertoire of choreographed works, “Without a Home.”
“We went out, among the homeless people, and the piece came out of the interviews we had with them,” said Maine, a dancer, teacher and choreographer, who was born in Sebokeng, South Africa, a small township outside of Johannesburg.
| Onstage |
| Lesole’s Dance Project |
| » Where: Millennium Stage, Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW |
| » When: 6 p.m. Thursday |
| » Info: Free; 800-444-1324; 202-467-4600; kennedy-center.org |
“The piece doesn’t need an introduction, because it’s self-explanatory,” Maine continued. “There is a backdrop [with a film] of the people we videotaped on the street. I asked them how they felt about being homeless, and then we used the answers to create the piece. The piece is made to make you think.”
Maine, himself, knows whereof he speaks. He, his mother and his sister, fleeing an abusive father/husband back in Johannesburg, were forced to live on the streets for three days. For him, the experience was terrifying and one that was never discussed with other family members. From this traumatizing incident, he learned that homeless is more than just living on the streets for a very long time. It could be as immediate as sleeping in a car after an eviction, unsure of where to turn.
Either way, these are the experiences that moved Maine to create with the art form he knows best — dance. All of his works highlight the unique qualities of contemporary and Afro-fusion disciplines.
“We take the elements of African movement and combine them with European music,” Maine noted. “We work with universal themes as we play from place to place, country to country [and] one continent to another.”
In Japan, Maine was surprised to learn of the burgeoning problem of homelessness there, even as he is quick to point out that life on the streets is a universal issue. Through his piece, he asks only that we reflect on the problem and then, perhaps, be compelled to take the next step toward its solution.
