Mzamo Nondlwana Waiting for fall

Together with four dancers, a live musician, and a videographer, Mzamo Nondlwana creates a dance performance that proposes hope as a strategy for survival. Rooted in queer and migrant perspectives, the artists develop empowering practices in response to the rise of right-wing extremism and authoritarian tendencies. Drawing on South African and Brazilian dance forms shaped by resistance to colonial oppression, the piece uses movement and rhythm to open portals to a temporary collective future where parody and humour become practices of resistance.

Imperialist, white supremacist, capitalist heterosexist patriarchy is crumbling, exposing all its atrocities and complexities. Where does the joy come in? It’s everywhere! It’s our anchor, our salvation, our home. Waiting for fall is a participatory dance performance by choreographer and performer Mzamo Nondlwana, in collaboration with Evandro Pedroni, Helena Araújo, Pêdra Costa and videographer Maanila Mederos Santos de Moraes.
Referring to the uncertainty surrounding the Austrian elections in September 2024, and to the global rise of far-right movements that increasingly target queer and trans communities, minorities, and migrants from the Global South, Waiting for fall invites us to learn from past and present resistance movements.

Building on Mzamo Nondlwana’s previous production Turning Point (which premiered at brut Wien in 2024), the piece explores the exaggeration of memories, images, and movements, focusing on joy as an act of resistance. Humour, parody, and collective dances emphasize that liberation is a shared, active, and ongoing process.

Inspired by historical and contemporary resistance movements, dance forms such as Pantsula from South Africa and Samba from Brazil serve as reference points to emphasise that political movements never exist in isolation but instead bring people together around a shared cause.
Waiting for fall emphasises the radical power of joy as resistance and allows multiple experiences to coexist without subordinating them to a single narrative. Mzamo Nondlwana and the ensemble explore how collective bodies translate these practices into sound and movement, centring call and response – an interactive practice rooted in Black music, religious ceremonies, and community rituals of the Global South.
Performers and audience members are invited to co-create a collective somatic experience, engaging with the themes of the piece not only cognitively, but physically and literally putting joy into practice.