This article aims its attention at interrogating the integrity of choices, the state of identities and reflects upon notions of selfhood in South African choreographer and dancer Mamela Nyamza’s critically acclaimed work, Hatched. I explore rites of passage – in accordance with anthropologist Arnold van Gennep’s delineation of rites of separation, transition, incorporation – and how these are embodied and enacted in Hatched. I analyse concrete performative actions that are about making and marking transformation. Individuation might be the consequence of the rite and its intention, but I also interrogate the rite as a performative and aesthetic process. Rites are not solely about the narrative of the performance, but the ritual within the stage action. The focus is not on what the individuation does, but rather the rite itself, because it facilitates those undergoing transformation, to transform. Hatched as a rite of passage work is about passing through something; an event, a state of being, a sense of self and practice in this present moment. Furthermore, as a rite of passage work, Hatched reflects and echoes the transition in South Africa’s shifting identity, along with the identities of the individuals who inhabit it.

中文翻译：

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成年礼：分离、阈限和马梅拉·尼亚姆扎的《孵化》中的开始

本文旨在探讨选择的完整性、身份的状态，并反思南非编舞家和舞蹈家马梅拉·尼亚姆扎广受好评的作品《孵化》中的自我概念。我根据人类学家 Arnold van Gennep 对分离、过渡、合并仪式的描述，探索了通过仪式——以及这些是如何在《孵化》中体现和制定的。我分析了关于制作和标记转换的具体表演行动。个性化可能是仪式及其意图的结果，但我也将仪式视为一种表演和审美过程。仪式不仅仅是关于表演的叙述，而是舞台动作中的仪式。重点不是个性化做什么，而是仪式本身，因为它促进了那些正在转型的人，去转型。作为通过仪式孵化的工作是关于通过某事；一个事件，一种存在状态，一种自我意识和此时此刻的实践。此外，作为一种成年仪式，Hatched 反映并呼应了南非不断变化的身份以及居住在那里的个人身份的转变。