Long Solo 4 – Seke Chimutengwende
Seke Chimutengwende embarks on a one hour performance without a plan.
Having performed completely open improvisations using movement and text since 2006, in 2021 Seke began experimenting with long solos lasting 50 to 60 minutes. As he faces the empty space, alone, he draws on memory, sensation and imagination to conjure worlds out of nothing. A fusion of dance, poetry, stand-up, storytelling, philosophy and politics, each solo is a riotous exploration of the present moment.
Since attending a workshop in solo improvisation with Andrew Morrish in 2006, Seke has performed over 70 improvised solos at festivals such as Dance International Glasgow, Rise Festival (Findhorn), Open Look Festival (St. Petersburg), Forest Fringe (Edinburgh), and NOW! Festival (Berlin) as well as night clubs, art galleries, church halls and people’s living rooms.
Between 2011 and 2018, Seke organised and performed in Late! Night Solos, a regular series of double bills by himself and Rebecca Mackenzie at The Hen and Chickens Theatre in Islington. In 2021, Seke performed 3 solos, a “Zoom Trilogy”, live from his living room in North London; and 1 live streamed solo from Chats Palace in East London. He performed Long Solos 1 and 2 at Chisenhale Dance Space in 2022, and Long Solo 3 at Wainsgate Dances in 2024.
About the Artist
Seke Chimutengwende is a choreographer and improviser working professionally in the UK and abroad for 20 years. His recent choreography, It begins in darkness (2022), looks at ghosts and haunted houses as metaphors for how histories of slavery and colonialism haunt the present. Seke has also recently choreographed a work for Candoco Dance Company, In Worlds Unknown (2022). He is currently researching a new work, The Last Quartet, which imagines a “last work” or “last attempt” at choreography, which will premiere in 2025.
Alongside his choreographic work, Seke has been practising completely improvised performance, using movement and text, since 2006. He has performed over 70 solo improvisations internationally and has performed ensemble improvisation with numerous dancers, actors and musicians. He is currently presenting Long Solos: long solo improvisation performances of 50 to 60 minutes.
Seke has performed for numerous dance companies including DV8 Physical Theatre and Lost Dog. Since 2021 Seke has been working as a performer with Forced Entertainment touring in shows And on the thousandth night… (2000), If All Else Fails (2023) and Signal to Noise (2024).
Seke teaches improvisation in a variety of contexts internationally, most recently at London Contemporary Dance School and P.A.R.T.S. in Brussels. Seke regularly mentors and coaches other artists.
Seke studied dance at Lewisham College 1999 – 2001 and London Contemporary Dance School 2001 – 2004 and went on to train extensively in improvisation with a variety of practitioners and with Andrew Morrish in particular.
Reviews
“Seke Chimutengwende performs another solo improvisation, another extraordinary mix of genres, this time dance, poetry and stand-up. Imagine, if you can, the anger of a young Billy Connolly, the surrealism of Bill Bailey and the eloquence of John Cooper Clarke, with a generous dollop of existential philosophy and environmentalism. Astringent, refreshing, and a fitting closer to a programme which successfully questions and enlarges our understanding of dance.”
Jennie Macfie, Northings
“Seke Chimutengwende’s opener is a fusion of storytelling and responses to the rhythms of his own body and text. Framed around the famous quote from Lady Macbeth: ‘Out damned spot!’ his movements are clever, pithy and as mercurial as the complex narrative he weaves, which takes in mortality, morality and the best way to bury pirates, Egyptian gods and entertainers. One of ‘the nice guys’, he’s an engaging, funny and likable talent who even has the young children and babies in the audience spellbound- no easy feat for any performer.”
Lorna Irvine, thetempohouse
Image credit: Jemima Yong