Battery Dance presents
PULA!
Botswana on Broadway
sponsored by the Botswana Tourism Organisation
August 22-23, 2018
The PlayStation Theater

Battery Dance presents a dance theatre musical, PULA! Botswana on Broadway, sponsored by the Botswana Tourism Organisation, on Wednesday, August 22, 2018 at 3pm and 8pm and Thursday, August 23, 2018 at 8pm at The PlayStation Theater, 1515 Broadway, NYC. Tickets start at $40 and are available at www.botswanaonbroadway.com.
 
Pula, or rain, is highly cherished in Botswana, a semi-arid country in Africa. This fictional play – anchored on the practical and mystical relationship that Batswana have with rain – traces how rain brings humans, plants and animals under one Botswana sky.
 
Because of this close relationship with rain, Batswana have always had endless names for rain depending on whether the rain is creating or destroying, whether it is before or after the planting of crops. And so, when drought hits one tiny village in Botswana, the chief assembles his villagers to find a solution. One young woman, Mmapula, is identified as the Rainmaker who must set forth in adventurous search of a specific type of life-giving rain for her people.
 
This spell-binding musical from Botswana chronicles a rainmaker’s quest to regain her powers. Her physical and spiritual rite of passage takes her to the inland delta and savannas of their homeland whereupon she consults tribespeople, and animal and plant communities for wisdom. In this community, where life is lived in communion with all living beings, the Rainmaker – through traditional song and dance – unites all creation toward the goal of bringing rain to her desert land. The result is an exhilarating celebration of all life, with a powerful heart-warming twist.
 
I love Botswana Ensemble was co-created and produced by Botswana Tourism Organisation as well as Mophato Dance Theatre under the direction of Andrew Letso Kola for the International Tourism Bourse (ITB) Berlin 2017 conference in Germany. Botswana was the first sub-Saharan country to partner with ITB, the largest travel show in the world. The ensemble is a collaborative assortment of seven modern and traditional performing arts groups which have come together to tell cultural stories of humanity and the earth through the ever enigmatic of Botswana lens. I love Botswana represented and raised the Botswana flag in Germany, USA, and Denmark in March and August 2017 respectively. The ensemble promotes cultural tourism through music, dance and acting.
 
ABOUT BATTERY DANCE
As one of America’s leading cultural ambassadors, Battery Dance connects the world through dance. The Company pursues artistic excellence and social relevance by creating vibrant new works, performing on the world’s stages, presenting dance in public spaces, serving the field of dance and teaching people of all ages with special attention to the disadvantaged and areas of conflict. Battery Dance is committed to enhancing the cultural vibrancy of its home community in New York City, extending programming throughout the U.S., and building bridges worldwide through international cultural exchange with programs in 70 countries to date. Battery Dance created its outdoor festival in 1982 as part of its engagement with its home community of lower Manhattan where it has been based since its founding in 1976. www.batterydance.org

“In the village, the most respected man is the rainmaker.” – The Narrator Hips twisting, legs moving in a circular fashion as arms are drawn apart and out in a way that shows the progression of something being given or drawn inwards…flips, jumps, skips and through such movement and song the audience experienced a plethora of emotions for two hours. Cries of “Beautiful!” were heard throughout this production. What production is this author speaking of, you may wonder. Pula, the currency of Botswana, is also the name of a Broadway show (Pula! Botwana on Broadway) that was recently presented by Battery Dance and the Botswana Tourism Organisation at the PlayStation Theater. The narrator, Mr. Gofaone Gabriel Modise, introduces us to a village in ‘Batswana’ who cherishes Sechele, the God of the rain. The viewer follows the narrator as well as the village through several stages such as ploughing, schooling, becoming an adult, marriage (via a dowry), and a drought that leads to the transformation of a new leader, the Rainmaker’s daughter. At each step, until the last thirty minutes, the audience is led by the voice of the narrator. So, it seems strange when his voice is missed for a time. …Read more