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Loveness Wesa had 14 years experience as a dancer, choreographer, actress, singer and producer in her native Zimbabwe before moving to Portland, Oregon in December 2002. She was first exposed to the traditional music and dance of her country as a small child watching her mother, aunt and grandmother who were Sangomas - the traditional spirit mediums who use song and dance to channel ancestral spirits. In 1989, while still in secondary school, Loveness Wesa joined the Amakhosi Theatre in Bulawayo where she studied music, dance, acting, choreographing, script writing and stage design with the leading artist of Zimbabwe as well as visiting artists from Ghana, Burkina Faso, Zambia, South Africa, Mozambique, Botswana, United States, United Kingdom and Jamaica. She performed in many of Amakhosi's best known plays, appearing on national television and touring Norway, Switzerland, South Africa, Botswana and Mozambique. She has performed for Queen Elizabeth and Prince Edward of the United Kingdom and Presidents Mbeki of South Africa and Mugabe of Zimbabwe. In 1998 Loveness founded the Kgotso African Dance Theatre as a vehicle for bringing works by women artists to Zimbabwe's stage. She choreographed Kgotso's first production, Chakwatu. In 2001 Ms. Wesa became her country's first woman theatrical producer when she brought her dance drama Brooms to Amakhosi. As well as being the producer, she wrote, choreographed, directed, designed sets and costumes and played one of the lead roles. Loveness Wesa has pioneered a style of dance which she calls African Dance Theatre. She merges a variety of traditional dances from throughout the African continent to create a coherent story. Though the dances are African and the lyrics of songs and chants are in their original languages, she tells her stories entirely through the dances and music making them comprehensible to any audience. In December 2004 Loveness Wesa made her American debut as a choreographer with her production Langivela Khona (Where I Come From), a dance theatre based on the stories of young African refugees and immigrants living in Portland, Oregon. This community arts project which was sponsored by the Regional Arts and Culture Council developed out of dance classes she was teaching for African refugees. The production involved twenty-one performers, both students and professional, from nine different countries and ten schools in Portland. Loveness recorded 5 and released three albums of her original compositions. Tovera (2001) is a collection of music inspired by traditional songs and Brooms (2002) includes her renditions of songs from the play. These albums include songs in Shona, Ndebele, Venda, Sotho and English. She returned to Zimbabwe during the summer of 2005 to record and produce her third and fourth albums, Mukadzi waMambo and Mvura. In July 2005 Ms Wesa was invited by California State University Summer Arts to join Amakhosi founder Cont Mhlanga in teaching workshops on African Theatre. Loveness performed a solo show of her original music and dances at the Cal State Fresno program and taught classes on the use of dancing, singing and storytelling in African drama. In addition to performing she teaches classes in dance, music and traditional crafts. Track List: 1. Let's Go 2. Sengikhulile 3. Tshidudu 4. KoBulawayo 5. Ilel'Inyamazana 6. Qhalaza 7. Ugogo 8. Sikgametsi 9. Uzobuya 10. Egwelutshena 11. Njelimana Suggested CDs:Other Genres:
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