Art is Life: Visit to K-CAP
“Art is not a mirror held up to reality, but a hammer with which to shape it.”
Art is a vital source for solutions to our societal issues and conceptualizing what a valuable life really means. Art emphasizes cooperation and experimentation, and through the process of creating art, we can identify ways to learn from and understand each other, disrupt vested interests and imagine more sustainable ways of living.
Kwa Mashu Community Advancement Projects, or K-CAP, is a youth integrated arts and multimedia empowerment organization founded in 1993. K-CAP realizes that art teaches skills and can be the basis of livelihoods and enterprises. The purpose of K-CAP is to discover, develop and expose artists towards sustainable employment opportunities and provide creative, quality arts and entertainment to the community.
Through its bustling Ekhaya Multi Arts Centre in Kwa Mashu Township (outside of Durban), K-CAP provides a multi-purpose space for showcasing presentations and performances. This includes facilities such as a computer lab, music recording studio, theatre facility, dance studio, workshop space, and video editing multi-media suite and a community radio station. K-CAP involves the community in radio drama and creative script writing, video production, film festivals, and arts and cultural activities.
While visiting K-CAP, student performers provided an impromptu music performance and dance performance. Even though they didn’t have prior notice of our visit, they pulled together a professional and impactful performance.
“Music creates a sense of togetherness, in many cultures. Music is meant as a way of communication. Traditional African music is described as “functional in nature”, pertaining to the ideas of marriage, childbirth and hunting. Language barriers can be brought together connecting communication to culture.”
Then, I became part of the performance myself! They were told that I have a dance background, and asked me on stage so they could teach me a dance to bring back to the U.S.
Even though I am at least twice their age, I learned so much from them! My body was involved, my mind was engaged, and my soul was stirred. Dance is one of the most participative, dynamic and social forms of human behavior. It has the capacity to trigger reflection, generate empathy, create dialogue and foster new ideas and relationships, and offers a powerful way of expressing, sharing and shaping values. Dance helps us build new capabilities and understand how to imagine and rehearse a different way of being and relating.
To learn more about K-CAP, visit https://kcap.co.za.
