Eoan Group kicks off 90th celebrations

To kick off celebrations for its 90th anniversary, the Eoan Group School of the Performing Arts is collaborating with the German National Youth Ballet to showcase their work of music, song and dance, called Our Songbook.

The gala performance takes place on Saturday February 18 at the Joseph Stone Auditorium in Athlone at 7pm.

Founded by world-renowned choreographer, Professor John Neumeier in 2011, the German National Youth Ballet only has eight dancers on contract at a time, and their mission is to research new ways of “bringing dance to the people in usual places”. This means they are not only dancing on stages, but also hospitals, prisons, old aged homes, the streets, as well as collaborations, outreach initiatives with physically and mentally disabled people, as well as workshops. Their visit to the Eoan Group is to collaborate, cement their friendship, and celebrate the performing arts school’s 90th anniversary.

The German National Youth Ballet’s managing director, Yohan Stegli, said this exchange is also about learning from one another - “working and growing together”. Apart from the dancers, they have also brought with them a technical team, a management team and seven musicians, as the production will be accompanied with live music.

Speaking about the production, the German National Youth Ballet creative director, Kevin Haigen said Our Songbook can be described as how a young person feels and thinks of their life when becoming an artist.

“It’s a mixture of celebrating and unifying different cultures, because that is what we do as artists. When we met (the two management teams), there was an instant bond - our priorities are the same. We are coming to a community who is not financially spoiled. What we are doing here, is to think with our hearts, not our brains. It’s so simple that it’s difficult,” Mr Haigen said.

Eoan Group director, Abeedah Medell, said she cannot believe that they are hosting and collaborating with “people of this expertise and knowledge”.

“The Eoan Group has survived everything that was thrown at us - from apartheid, relocation, the Group Areas Act. Now we are making performing arts history in South Africa. We are the oldest organisation of its kind in the country. What we are doing and what the German National Youth Ballet is doing, is changing people’s lives. We are crossing borders and walking in each other’s footsteps. We can only bow down and be filled with gratitude and humility to the woman who started the Eoan Group. I am so happy that the German National Youth Ballet and my dancers will be on the same stage. They are gifting us with live music and our dancers have never done that before,” Ms Medell said.

Apart from the Saturday evening’s show, there will also be two more performances on Sunday February 19, at 3pm and 6pm. A performance for all interested schools will also be held on Tuesday February 21. To book, call 021 637 1268.