The contemporary dance performance Greater than Lion choreographed by Kennedy Junior Muntanga premieres at Messums West in September.
Muntanga is one of the most exciting new names in contemporary dance and follows in the footsteps of talented choreographers whose emergence has been supported by Messums West
Born and raised in Zambia, Muntanga is a dance movement artist and choreographer who studied at Phoenix Dance Theatre and Rambert School of Ballet. He worked for leading choreographers including Robert Cohan CBE, Akram Khan MBE, C. Raman Schlemmer and Alesandra Seutin before creating Kennedy Muntanga Dance Theatre (KMDT) in 2018. KMDT already has two significant works in its repertoire – Genesis, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019 and Nebuchadnezzar, at The Place’s Resolutions Festival
in January 2020 – but Greater than Lion will be their most ambitious work to date.
As Artistic Director of KMDT Muntanga’s mission is to create work that represents many cultures, life experiences and stories. Greater Than Lion based on two tales, ‘Greater Than Lion’, from the book ‘The Girl Who Married A Lion’ by Alexander McCall Smith, and the biblical tale of Jonah and The Whale. This work follows a couple mourning the death of their child and explores strong themes of rebirth, death, confrontation, grief and acceptance. This will be Muntanga’s debut solo performance at Messums and a demonstration of how artistic dance is developing alongside theatre.
‘This company’s whirling, ferocious physicality and finesse are already hugely eloquent’ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Guardian
