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This dependence upon the spirits is in his genes. Mantsoe’s mother, aunts and grandmother are all sangomas – a very special person in traditional Zulu society. Sangomas are a mixture of priest, diviner, predictor and healer with powers derived from being the incarnation of an ancestral spirit. Since they have been with him all his life, Vincent doesn’t have to look far in order to find the spiritual inspiration for his dance.

Watching Vincent Mantsoe in performance is certainly a very intense experience. His contribution to this year’s Dance Umbrella is a performance of two of his own works. ‘Bupiro-Mukuti’(meaning the dance of life), which he choreographed in 2002, and the world première of ‘Ndaa’ (or greetings), which he recently created over 4 weeks during a dance residency in Montreal.

‘Bupiro-Mukuti’ is an ancient language from the legends of the Bantu-speaking people. It opens with Mantsoe, back to the audience in a foetal-like pose, playing with a small drum (or Ngoma), lightly beating out a rhythm which gradually increases in intensity. The 20-minute dance develops over 5 clearly defined segments, performed against a backdrop of very different pieces of African music.

The dance grows in intensity, culminating in a trance-like response to the multi-faceted, percussive rhythms in which the dancer shivers whilst moving different parts of his body independently in perfect harmony with the separate beats. By the fourth phase of the dance, the intensity manifests itself in the most outrageous sequence of spins, before dying away into the sedate acceptance of the end of life in the opposite corner of the stage to where life, marked by the steady slow beating of the Ngoma, had begun.

The main piece of his programme for Dance Umbrella was the premiere of ‘Ndaa’, which means greeting. This is a gross over-simplification in translation since it goes well beyond the greetings simply expressed between one person and another. It also touches a spiritual dimension which reinforces Vincent Mantsoe’s own personal background. Are there spirits existing around us that we can’t see or hear? (Certainly, for him, these spirits exist for the sangomas, including his mother, his aunts and his grandmother). Do we exist between reality and imagination?

Where ‘Bupiro-Mukuti’ happened with a bare stage and a single prop (the drum), ‘Ndaa’ exists within the confines of nine single sticks of bamboo, two of which are joined together. Mantsoe explains that the only significance of the bamboo poles is to create some dynamic space for the performance.
 

‘Ndaa’ begins with the dancer finding the way of life, exploring slowly, to raw drum beats, different pathways and different spaces until gradually the music (and the spirit) begins to fill his body. The Music comes from Southern Ethiopia, the Gabon and Kenya since, as Mantsoe explains in the programme notes, ‘as we Ndaa the daily life, we reinforce it daily in different tongues’. As well as traditional African music, a large part of the dance responds to conversations of people from the Gabon – they are Bibayak Pygmies according to the programme notes. Even though one has no idea what their conversations are about, it seems to be clear that they are just ‘everyday’ discussions as people greet each other and their children play in the background.

What is remarkable is how Vincent Mantsoe makes his audience feel the innate musicality which comes easily from the interplay of these simple discussions. In fact, there is no doubt that Mantsoe is a quite phenomenal dancer with the most intricate appreciation of rhythmn – he shows us that he has little difficulty interpreting several pieces of music played simultaneously.

‘Ndaa’ also took Mantsoe into a ritualistic, and very intense, trance during which he seemed to be in another world, particularly as he used his breathing, over a prolonged period, to make contact with the spirits that he could not readily see. Although it seemed spontaneous, in discussions with the audience afterwards, he made it clear that there is no room for improvisation in his choreography. Everything is carefully choreographed and even when, in his own words, he is ‘floating out there in a trance and a little bit out of control’, his body always knows what to do next.

To some extent, I think he entrances his audience, too! ‘Ndaa’ lasts for 40 minutes but when the performance ended with Mantsoe advancing slowly to the front of the stage, extending his arms to ndaa a member of the audience, it seemed to me that it had only just begun! His performance was very well received by a surprisingly large audience, especially for a cold Sunday evening with over half the underground system of London not working properly, and he was rapturously called back for several “curtain” calls.

At 32, Vincent Mantsoe has come a long way from the heart of Soweto, where he was born. Although the African roots and his own personal heritage are always at the fore, his choreography reflects many other influences, such as Asian dance, martial arts, tai chi and sundry European and North American elements, moulding it all into a unique and very powerful cross-cultural fusion of dance.

Regrettably, his involvement in Dance Umbrella lasts for just two performances, ending a very brief UK tour which has also taken in Woking and Nottingham. Tonight (27 October) will be the last chance to catch this magical one-man show in the UK for some time. Or, should I say a show of one man and his Spirits?