Photo Lars Opstad
About the performance
Heddapris winner dancer and choreographer, Tendai Makurumbandi, draws on the living physical, spiritual, and cultural archives of African peoples to question colonization and modernization on identity formation. Inspired by the Himba tradition of receiving a unique “birth song”, MY SONG explores the evolving continuities and relational identities of marginalized communities. Through call-and-response—a practice embodying “being different together”—the performance resists the colonial legacy of modernity that enforces dominance. Transcending conventional perceptions, it revives overlooked elements that shape identity, moving from the unknown into a spirit realised as a song sung into existence.
Premiered at the CODA Oslo International Dance Festival in October 2023, MY SONG invites audiences to reimagine identity as a living, inclusive act of self and community.
When the child achieves something special or goes through rites of puberty, the villagers sing the song as a way of honoring them.
If a Himba man or woman commits a crime or breaks a social norm, the community gathers and calls the person to the center of the village. The villagers form a circle around them and sing their birth song. The Himba see correction not as punishment, but as an act of love and a reminder of identity. When one recognizes their own song, there is no desire or need to do harm to another.
In marriage, the couple’s songs are sung together. And finally, when a Himba man or woman is on their deathbed, all the villagers who know their song come to sing it one last time, his/her SONG.
Credits
Dance and choreography Tendai Makurumbandi.
Musicians Jo Inge Nes, Jimu Makurumbandi
Composer Mikkel Alvheim Åse.
Costume & scenography design Peny Spanou
Light design Agnethe Tellefsen
Advisor/ outside eye Hooman Sharifi
Photo Lars Opstad
Co-produced by Gøril Roesen
Supported by Arts Council Norway, Fund for Performing Artists (FFUK), Møre og Romsdal County Municipality, PAHN - Performing Arts Hub Norway, Danish Arts Foundation.
Co-produced by: The Opera in Kristiansund, In2IT International Dance Festival, and CODA Oslo International Dance Festival.
Photo Lars Opstad
About the artists
Tendai M. Makurumband
Tendai Makurumbandi is a Zimbabwean choreographer and artistic director whose work merges African rhythmic traditions with contemporary choreography to explore identity, belonging, and resistance.
Trained at the National Ballet of Zimbabwe, he developed a foundation in classical and contemporary dance before pursuing a Master’s in Choreography at Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHIO). His work moves beyond storytelling, positioning the body as a site of memory, resistance, and transformation—where rhythm and vibration carry embodied knowledge across time and cultures.
Now based in Norway, he is the artistic director of IN2IT International Dance Festival, a platform for cultural exchange through dance. His award-winning performance MY SONG (Heddaprisen) powerfully explores identity and displacement, challenging conventional narratives and redefining the body in performance.
makuda.no
Photo Mishael Oladipo Fapohunda
Practical info
Dates and times
16.5.2025, 20:00
17.5.2025, 17:00
Duration and stage 1 hour in Blackboxen.
Accessibility
The venue is wheelchair accessible, with an elevator providing access to the stages. All restrooms are gender-neutral, and an accessible toilet for wheelchair users is available.
Dansehallerne’s address
Franciska Clausens Plads 27, 1799 Copenhagen V
About Dansehallerne
Dansehallerne is a national center for dance and choreo-graphy. Our focus lies in presenting and co-producing Danish and international productions for all ages. We are a gathering point for passionate dance audiences and professionals. From our center, we communicate professional knowledge of the art of dance, and we drive discussions about all aspects of the art of dance, at an intermediate level and in-depth.
Being a national center, as well as a gathering point for the local and international communities, we continuously work to ensure the best possible settings for artistic production and for the audience’s encounter with the art of dance. Every year, people from all around the country can experience the best that dance has to offer. And for several hundred artists, Dansehallerne is the year-round base and interface for professional activities within the field of dance.
Performance Program
