Singing Across The Divide Launch

The film project documents the assembling of a choir from the Muizenberg and Vrygrond communities, organized by musical director and performer, Lynne Poulsen-Blamire, culminating in a final public performance. While the two communities live side by side, they also represent an uncomfortable gulf that lingers between advantaged and disadvantaged communities, often translated quite blandly as ‘inequality’, a malady and byproduct of colonial and apartheid pasts. The choir projects brings together these communities to celebrate and explore how through music people can find, reach out, understand and transcend the divides that seemingly separate each other. The choir film, while it has a local focus, is a deeply quintessential South African story of overcoming difficult situations and aspiring for a better world.

The story arc is about the meeting of participants as they practice, culminating in the grand final performance. In the process of telling the choir story, we will follow members of the choir to understand more about their lives, views on the world and how they survive, reflecting a diversity of perspectives. The film will engage with the intersection of a range of experiences and individual journeys. Through interviews, we will hear the ongoing anxieties and challenges as the choir story culminates in the apex of the film – the final performance.

THINGS TO KNOW:

* Please arrive on time - no entry is allowed after the show starts. Latecomers will be admitted at interval only.

* Children must have their own seat - no sitting on laps.

* No outside food or drinks are allowed. Refreshments are available for purchase inside.

* You're welcome to take food and drinks into the theatre, but please return your glasses to the bar afterward.

* No flash photography or videography is permitted during the performance.

* Free secure parking is available just 50 meters past the theatre (next to the Woodshop). The lot closes 30 minutes after the show ends. Please avoid parking in residential roads to keep access clear for local residents.

* Disabled parking is available on request. Please email [email protected].

* Tickets are non-transferable and non-refundable.

Thank you!