- By Kikelomo Solomon-Ayeni
Ubuntu has an impact on you off-stage as well. Like a drumming recalling its own echo, it enters your bones and synchronizes your heartbeat with its rhythm. You don’t merely observe it.
Joachim “Jojo” Keke is not an arrival; rather, he is a return. He has a calm ferocity that comes from knowing the discipline of art as well as the suffering of life. Every flex and contraction sounds like a language that relies more on pulse and breath than on alphabets.
Jojo is a talkative man. His movement blends prayer and protest. Instead of just going to the stage, Africa remembers itself in him.
More than just a costume, his pants, which are vibrantly patterned in shades of burnt orange, magenta, and yellow, are an act of confession. With the singing of marketplaces, laughter, and the obstinate light of home, the colors hum against the black stage. His bare and marked chest conveys trust rather than weakness. He moves as if he has witnessed silence and has chosen to respond with rhythm.
Originating in the philosophy of Southern Africa Ubuntu unfolds like a muscle meeting memory: “I am because we are.” Every motion asks and offers: Will you see me? Are you going to move with me? Jojo’s motions move through space like invisible threads, connecting, repairing, and tugging. You feel him being held by the floor, then let go. When he jumps, the air trembles. Abruptly, you are no longer seated. It includes you.
He extends a hand into the emptiness during a silent moment. He may be offering assistance, but it’s unclear. But that’s what Ubuntu is all about, it’s never one way. You feel him being held by the floor, then let go. When he bends, rolls, and rises again, the air trembles.
Even though the performance is only ten minutes long, time becomes distorted. Instead of applause, what remains is the knowledge that we are all connected, frail, fierce, and human.
Jojo dances to be remembered, not to impress. to serve as a reminder that memory is movement and that shared memory is healing.
And there’s a humming silence when he finally stops. Because Ubuntu is a continuous performance. Long after the lights go out, it’s still a heartbeat.
Jojo is a dancer and theater artist who has a story in his muscles.