Lamesha Ruddock
Africa Power: The Colour of Water is a breathtaking fusion of animation, dance, and live vocals that immerses audiences in a sensory journey that calls you to action to look after nature and nature will look after you.
The story follows Bantu and the origin of water in Africa, exploring its life-giving power. When drought strikes, Bantu, guided by his ancestors, sets out on a journey to find a pangolin who can restore the rains.
Africa Power: The Colour of Water inspires a new generation to take action for sustainability, particularly in protecting our planet’s most precious resource: water. Through this show, the artists highlight unity, diversity, and collective responsibility, offering a powerful reminder of our role in protecting the planet.
At the centre of the performance is the Pangolin. Its tough, overlapping scales are brought to life through animations and even a live drawing by the principal actor, who, through his journey, gains knowledge and trust in his relationship with water.
Costumes amplify the outstanding, high-energy dance performances, transforming scenes from ethereal, illuminating capes that create entire worlds, to golden fringed adornments, to iridescent durags, all contrasting with Bantu’s light-coloured costume that absorbs the colour of water as he learns.
The relationship with the ceramic bowl, used in movement to represent the spread of knowledge as water nourishes the community, is affirming and beautiful. South African street dance, performed to the backdrop of amapiano music and powerful melodic live vocals, grounds the show with rhythmic energy and cultural resonance.
Africa Power: The Colour of Water will leave you inspired, moved, and celebratory, feeling a deep connection to the universal message that water unites us all.
Performances of Africa Power: The Colour of Water have now concluded at EdFringe 2025.
Jake Mace
