'Friend' Robert - from hero to zero; Theatre New dance work examines Zimbabwean's love/hate relationship with Mugabe.

Byline: By Diane Parkes

CHOREOGRAPHER and dancer Bawren Tavaziva usually visits his family in Zimbabwe each Christmas, but those trips look to be at an end as his newwork, My Friend Robert, will hardly make him a welcome guest in the African country.

Bawren's piece is a timely examination of one of Africa's most vilified characters - Robert Mugabe, the president of Zimbabwe.

And it is hardly complimentary.

Tracing how Mugabe came to power as a populist leader but became corrupted by that very power until the country is lying in ruins at his feet, My Friend Robert even includes a scene in which Mugabe is stoned.

Bawren is fully aware of the risks of creating such a work but felt impelled to do so. Born and brought up in Zimbabwe, the founder of Tavaziva Dance Company has lived in the UK for 11 years but has seen how the Mugabe regime has affected his home country, his friends and his family.

"I created the work to express my own experiences from Zimbabwe," he says. "I am always going home to see my family and I have seen how it has really changed. It is so bad now.

"It is a very personal piecebecause, as a Zimbabwean, I am affected by what I see there. This work is like putting my life on the stage."

And in this way it also reflects his own disappointment with Mugabe.

"It is called My Friend Robert as that reflects how Zimbabwe saw him. I am trying to look at what has happened to him. I am trying to explain how he was in the beginning and how he is now.

"He was our hero. When he first came to power he was all for education and giving people a country they could be proud of.

"But now it has all gone totally about turn and he has all the power. Now he has to go.

"I saw him as a friend, as a comrade.

He was one of us. He was a leader of great vision and ability and was a friend to us.

"In the work I am saying, 'what happened, my friend?' "

But the work which tours the UK this spring, coming to Birmingham's DanceXchange on Friday March 13, could have serious consequences for Bawren.

"When I had the idea I didn't think too much about it beyond it being a personal piece because it is about my experience of being Zimbabwean," says Bawren. "But when I put it to the board they were concerned that it could bring us a lot of trouble. I explained it and why I wanted to do it so we have gone ahead.

"It has received a lot of positive response but it has also been talked about a lot. I did not see it as a political piece but, because of everything that is happening in Zimbabwe, it has attracted a lot of interest.

"When we are doing publicity, people tend to focus on the piece and what I am saying about Mugabe. It is good for the company because it helps to put us on the map but it is bad for me because it could be dangerous for me.

"It is very difficult for me to go home now. I usually go home for Christmas but I will not be able to go home again while Robert Mugabe is still in power. People in Zimbabwe and in South Africa have heard about the piece."

Bawren was born in the village of Masvingo and his family moved to the Zimbabwean capital of Harare when he was four years old. Fascinated with movement, dance and music from an early age, he took part in a dance programme with the National Ballet aimed at helping talented youngsters from under privileged backgrounds.

Chosen to join the City Youth Dance Group, he then joined the Zimbabwean Tumbuka Dance Company where he worked for five years and toured Europe and Africa.

Bawren came to the UK in 1998 and formed Tavaziva Dance Company with five dancers in 2004. With Tavaziva, he has gone on to choreograph a number of pieces, including Tribe, Worlds Apart and Zviri Mumoyo, meaning It Is In Your Heart. And he has worked with other companies including Sakoba Dance Theatre and Phoenix Dance.

My Friend Robert may be receiving all the attention at the moment, but it is actually one of four pieces being performed in Birmingham's Patrick Centre under the heading Heart of Darkness.

"Sinful intimacies looks at the subject of female homosexuality," says Bawren. "Basically it is something which is just not talked about in Zimbabwe. In our culture there are things which happen behind locked doors and people do not understand them.

"Another piece is Kenyan Athlete which looks at how athletes train and how important a part of the Kenyan culture they are. It is very inspirational.

"And Silent Steps has been created by a guest choreographer Harriet Macauley. We always like to include a piece by a guest choreographer if we can."

All look at different facets of the African experience and, surprisingly, Bawren admits that while he loves the title he has not actually read Joseph Conrad's classic novel set in colonial Africa, Heart of Darkness.

"It was actually someone else who was telling me about the book and said it featured someone who was the prince of evil," he said. "They said it looked at the dark side of things and as we were talking about it I thought it would make a good title for the programme," he says. "I should read it."

CAPTION(S):

Political piece: My Friend Robert by Tavaziva Dance Company, which could make a return to Zimbabwe dangerous for its creator Bawren Tavaziva, pictured with Everton Wood as Mugabe.