tamUjUntU

Xhosa, Zulu, Swazi, Ndebele, Quilombolas, Indigenous peoples, Roma communities, Cariocas, and many other blended ancestries come together in this research project between South Africa and Brazil. At its heart lies the creation of a manifesto of gestural complicity, drawing on the urban and/or traditional dances present in both nations: Pantsula resonates with Passinho, and within Samba, elements of Amapiano intertwine.

Nothing is presented in its pure form. On the contrary, like each performer who steps into motion—translating the experience of the body as a “window”—everything remains open, unfinished, receptive to other influences, and in search of an expanded cultural repertoire.

This is how tamUjUntU, an expression derived from the phrase “we are together,” proposes a creation where everything is possible—except letting go of one another’s hand. In a single sentence: “An embrace is lingering within another’s body.”

Let us therefore journey together across this geography, stitched together by an infinite diaspora of possibilities and stories.

Paulo Azevedo
Rio de Janeiro, 2025

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The title TAMUJUNTU is not easy to translate.
The expression “tamo junto,” a contraction of “estamos juntos,” means “we’re together.” It carries the spirit of a high five, a “you’ve got this,” a shared determination—something along those lines. It conveys empathy, solidarity, and complicity between friends or close companions in the face of adversity.

By rendering it phonetically as tamujuntu, Paulo Azevedo highlights the organic ties between language and culture, embodied here by the performers—dancers from the two countries involved in the project. The assonance, both sonic and visual, of the letter “U” in this distinctly Brazilian expression, reimagined in this way, evokes the resonances found in the word Ubuntu, so cherished in South Africa. It invites the imagination to explore these words, their meanings, and their worlds.