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JOMBA! FEMME FORWARD Residency honours Women's Month with new generation of Durban screen dance artists

August 18, 2026

As South Africa marks Women's Month, the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, prepares to engage with five emerging Durban-based, dance artists through the JOMBA! Femme Forward Residency 2026, one of the programmes within the festival.

Running from 24 to 29 August 2026, the residency, now in its second year, is presented in partnership with Cape Town-based Darkroom Contemporary and offers five participants intensive training and creative mentorship in dance for the screen. The programme builds on JOMBA!'s five-year history of showcasing nearly 50 dance films, and follows the residency's successful 2025 launch.

This year's cohort brings together a group of women shaping Durban's contemporary performance landscape: Aluta Nzama, Alwande Khuzwayo, Andisiwe Mbambo, Aphelele Nyawose and Siobhan Wright. Over six intensive days, the artists will develop original short dance films exploring themes of identity, resilience and lived experience, giving voice and visibility to women telling their own stories through movement.

Louise Coetzer, artistic director of Darkroom Contemporary says, “we are delighted to be partnering with JOMBA! in this specially focuses Femme Forward 2026 residency and helping to skill and grow young female film and dance makers”.

"FEMME FORWARD exists to give young female-identifying dance-makers in KwaZulu-Natal the space, skills and support to shape their own creative futures," said Thobile Maphanga , Assistant Curator,, and coordinator of this JOMBA! residency. "Coming together during Women's Month, this residency is a reminder that investing in women's artistic voices is investing in the stories our country needs to hear."

The outcomes of the residency will be shared after the Forging Futures JOMBA! Conversation that takes place on Saturday 29 August 2026 @ 2pm, at the Centre for Creative Arts Board Room, Howard College Campus (UKZN).

For more information go to: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

World-renowned dance makers to share skills and techniques at free JOMBA! Workshops

August 11, 2026

From 25 August to 6 September 2026, the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) presents the 28th edition of JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, showcasing an international and national line-up of choreographers and companies at Durban's Sneddon Theatre, Square Space Theatre, Stable Theatre and the KZNSA Gallery.

Alongside its main stage programme, JOMBA! invites the dance community into the studio for a series of free workshops led by choreographers and companies featured on this year's festival programme.

These workshops give dancers direct access to the techniques, philosophies and creative processes of artists visiting Durban from South Africa, France, Nigeria/Ireland, Spain and Jamaica.

Presenting the workshops:

PJ Sabbagha (South Africa) - JOMBA!'s 2026 Legacy Artist leads an improvisation session built around listening: to the self, to others, and to the space itself.

Mamela Nyamza (South Africa) - fresh from her 2026 Silver Lion win at the Venice Biennale, Nyamza's "Body & Sound" workshop turns the body into an instrument of vocal and physical expression.

Vincent Mantsoe (France/South Africa) - shares his KOBA Technique, a "physical meditation" fusing traditional and contemporary movement in search of identity.
Mufutau Yusuf (Nigeria/Ireland) - leads "Your Own Groove," a playful, inclusive improvisation workshop open to dancers of all experience levels.
Iron Skulls Co. (Spain), with Tebby Ramasike - Diego Garrido, Moisés "Moe" Gordo Gómez and Ramasike guide participants through the meeting point of Theatrical Breakin' and Afro-Butoh, set to live music.
Dr L'Antoinette Stines (Jamaica) - the creator of L'Antech, the first Anglo-Caribbean dance technique, leads a class rooted in Kumina, Bruckins, Nyabinghi, Dancehall and other ancestral forms, accompanied by L'Acadco dancers and drummers.

Two further closed sessions round out the programme: Ugandan dance artist Joseph Tebandeke works with UKZN's third-year dance students on access and belonging in dance practice, and the Introdans Education Team (Netherlands) shares its dance education methods with Edgewood Campus trainee teachers and with youth from the KwaMashu School of Dance Theatre.

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Venue: UKZN Howard College Campus, Drama and Performance Studies - Dance Studio

1.Wednesday, 26 August: 4.30 - 6pm: PJ Sabbagha (South Africa) - improvisation workshop

2.Thursday, 27 August: 4.30 - 6pm: Mamela Nyamza (South Africa) - "Body & Sound"

3.Friday, 28 August: 4.30 - 6pm: Vincent Mantsoe (France/South Africa) - KOBA Technique

4.Saturday, 29 August: 10 - 11.30am: Mufutau Yusuf (Nigeria/Ireland) - "Your Own Groove"

5.Tuesday, 1 September: 4.30 - 6pm: Iron Skulls Co. (Spain), with Tebby Ramasike

6.Wednesday, 2 September: 4.30 - 6pm: Dr L'Antoinette Stines (Jamaica) - L'Antech technique, with L'Acadco dancers and drummers

All open workshops are free of charge, but booking is essential and spaces are limited. Bookings can be made through Thobile Maphanga at 2024jomba@gmail.com Open workshops are for dancers aged 16 and older.

More info about JOMBA! can be found on the website here: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Honours Three Giants of South African Contemporary Dance

July 30, 2026

Three of South Africa's most influential dance voices PJ Sabbagha, Mamela Nyamza and Vincent Mantsoe, feature at the 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience this year, each bringing decades of artistic courage and innovation to the Durban stage.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Creative Arts presents the 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, a thirteen-day celebration of world-class contemporary dance running from 25 August to 6 September 2026. This year's festival is curated around the theme Choreographies of Activism: Moving Bodies as Disruptive Presencing.

Each year JOMBA! celebrates a South African artist whose contribution has fundamentally reshaped the country's dance landscape. The festival opens on Tuesday 25 August with 2026 JOMBA! Legacy Artist PJ Sabbagha’s work Noah. Choreographer, curator and arts activist, founder and Artistic Director of the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative, PJ Sabbagha has, for more than three decades, taken dance beyond urban centres and into rural communities, through initiatives including the Ebhudlweni Arts Centre and the internationally respected My Body My Space Rural Public Arts Festival. As part of the Legacy celebration, audiences will experience Noah, the concluding chapter of Sabbagha's acclaimed Noah trilogy - a multimedia dance-theatre work reflecting on climate crisis, loss, memory and survival through the metaphor of the biblical flood.

Past JOMBA! Legacy Artist Mamela Nyamza returns to the festival hot off receiving the prestigious Silver Lion for Dance at the 2026 Venice Biennale, one of the highest honours in international contemporary dance. Nyamza brings her new ensemble work THE HERD/LESS to JOMBA!, a visually arresting meditation on community, conformity, vulnerability and survival. Known for her fearless, politically incisive choreographic language, Nyamza's return confirms her place as one of Africa's most important contemporary artists.

Internationally celebrated choreographer and performer Vincent Mantsoe joins the Legacy line-up with his new solo, Desert Poems. Mantsoe's deeply embodied practice has long bridged ancestral knowledge with contemporary performance, and this intimate new work offers a meditation on endurance, spirituality and transformation - reaffirming why he remains one of South Africa's most respected dance artists on the world stage.

All three artists will also lead free public workshops during the festival, giving Durban's dance community direct access to some of the country's most significant choreographic minds. Booking for workshops is essential.

Audiences can look forward to a rare convergence of three defining voices in South African contemporary dance with their works reflecting decades of artistic courage, activism and innovation. This is an unmissable opportunity to experience South African dance at its most powerful.

The festival hosts talks, panel discussions, workshops, performances and residencies.

For more information got to www.jomba.ukzn.ac.za. To book for performances, go to . Special full festival passes at a discounted rate are available. To book for workshops email: Thobile Maphanga on 2024jomba@gmail.com

South African choreographer and arts activist, PJ Sabbagha named the 2026 JOMBA! LEGACY ARTIST

June 1, 2026

The 28th annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, hosted by UKZN’s Centre for Creative Arts, has announced that it will honour South African choreographer and arts activist PJ Sabbagha as the 2026 JOMBA! Legacy Artist.

PJ Sabbagha, whose name has become synonymous with issue-based dance theatre, is the Organisation Steward and Chief Collaborator / CEO of The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (FATC - now in its 31st year), the Ebhudlweni Arts Center (in its 11th year) and the annual My Body My Space Rural Public Arts Festival (in its 11th year).

Sabbagha was the recipient of the 2005 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance and the 2006 FNB Dance Umbrella award for Best Choreography for his work, Still Here. He was also awarded the 2005 and 2009 awards for Most Outstanding presentation of a new work for The Double Room and Macbeth respectively. In 2005 he was voted top South African Artist and was also placed in the top 10 of The Star Tonight’s annual top 100 South Africans.

He has travelled across the USA as a guest of the US State Department as part of the 2007 International Visitors Leadership Program investigating HIV and AIDS and other communicable diseases. In 2017 Sabbagha visited France as a guest of the French Ministry of Culture and Communications as part of a Seminar Focusing Arts and Culture in Service of Community and Territorial Development. Sabbagha’s choreographic work has been shown at festivals and theatres in countries that include Russia, Mexico, France, Holland, Tanzania, Mali, Mozambique and Taiwan.

Currently PJ leads FATC in its delivery and work as appointed implementing agency on behalf of the Mpumalanga Provincial Department of Culture, Sports and Recreation’s Community Arts Center Support and Development Programme funded by the National Department of Sports, Arts and Culture

JOMBA!’s artist director, Dr Lliane Loots says, “Deeply significant to the JOMBA! Legacy award is PJ’s lifelong commitment to not just his choreographic excellence, but a deep-seated care for community and his pioneering work that has shifted South African dance out of urban spaces. His curation and vision have shifted our dance landscape and we are deeply humbled that we get to honour PJ in this way”.

“The JOMBA! festival’s 2026 overall curatorial theme and provocation is Choreographies of Activism: Moving Bodies as Disruptive Presenting and we can think of no other South African artist who has exemplified this moving across physical, economic and access borders in his dance work, whether this has been training and teaching, choreography, or curation”.

PJ and FATC will open JOMBA! on 25 and 26 August in Durban with a re-visit and re-boot of an earlier work NOAH - a multi-media dance work exploring the notions of loss, love and letting go. It uses the frame of irreversible climate change as an immersion in the moment of crisis, from which there is no return. NOAH will be performed by Nicholas Aphane, Athena Mazarakis and Shawn Mothupi, and is a layered conversation between live performing bodies, video projection and shadows that surfaces the personal and collective response to this (personal and geopolitical) moment of crisis.

JOMBA! takes place at The Sneddon Theatre in Durban from 25 August to 6 September, and the satellite festival takes place at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg from 9 to 12 September 2026.

For more information go to https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

JOMBA! FEMME FORWARD Screen Dance Residency 2026

May 12, 2026

The 2026 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s award-winning Centre for Creative Arts, calls for applications for its JOMBA! Femme Forward Screen Dance Residency, which takes place during the festival from 24 August to 29 August.

Besides presenting edgy live contemporary dance, as well as workshops, talks and its dance-writers - and female-focused residencies, JOMBA! also supports, hosts and nurtures a digital dance platform that has an open call for submissions to be featured at the festival.

*Darkroom Contemporary Artistic Director Louise Coetzer with company dancer Tania Mteto. Image by Oscar O’Ryan.*

This year’s continuation of the JOMBA! Femme Forward Residency focuses on the development of female-identifying dance artists who are eager to develop their digital screen dance practice. Having screened almost 50 dance films over the past 5 years JOMBA! is dedicated to investing in the craft of screen dance making and following the 2023 screen dance residency run by Mozambican duo Pak Ndjamena and Ivan Barros JOMBA is thrilled to be partnering with Cape Town based Darkroom Contemporary Dance Theatre to execute this year’s 6-day residency.

The residency offers space for 5 female-identifying dancers / dance makers aged between 18 and 35 years who have some dance training and have a keen interest in upskilling themselves to become digital screen dance creators.

This JOMBA! Femme Forward Screen Dance Residency is being run in partnership with Darkroom Contemporary Dance Theatre (Cape Town, South Africa), a project-based company which was founded in 2010, and formed as a vehicle to reimagine dance through its innovative approach to staging and presenting contemporary works.

Founders Louise Coetzer, a dancer and choreographer, and Oscar O’Ryan, a photographer and filmmaker, bring together expertise from their respective fields to form a dynamic partnership. Their projects provide platforms and create opportunities for skills development and exchange among all artists involved. They focus on the use of new technology and digital media frame their artistic approach. Similarly does interdisciplinary exploration, with project collaborators including visual artists, musicians, designers, filmmakers and digital artists.

“We remain deeply committed to creating accessible, inclusive spaces for dance-makers,” says JOMBA!’s Project Manager, Thobile Maphanga. “The Femme Forward Residency is about amplifying young female-identifying voices in dance, and this year specifically in screen-dance, giving them the tools and confidence to tell their stories in powerful new ways, making their work accessible to wider global audiences.”

“We are excited to collaborate with JOMBA! on this residency,” says Louise Coetzer of Darkroom Contemporary Dance Theatre. “Screen dance opens up fresh possibilities for choreography and creativity, and we want participants to experiment, take risks, and discover their own unique voices in the digital space.”

The Residency will focus primarily on developing dance filmmaking skills (from conceptualisation, pre-production planning, filming to editing considerations). The outcome will be a short screen dance film, created individually by each participant. Included in the residency will be access to dance workshops by choreographers visiting the festival, assistance in forging a professional image and instilling good work ethic that will aid the young makers to promote their future work. The residents will also have access to the full festival programme and have the opportunity to meet and engage with professional companies and choreographers that are visiting the festival.

The selection will be done through an application process that requires the applicant to motivate why they want to be a part of the residency. Participants will be expected to be available for the full 6-day duration (24-29 August 2026) with the outcomes of the residency presented at the JOMBA! Forging Futures platform on Saturday, 29 August 2026. There is no cost to participate, and a nominal stipend is paid to support residents with transport and food for the 6 days. Applicants must reside in and around Durban.

For more information about the application criteria and selection process, go to https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/jomba-femme-forward-screen-dance-residency-2026/.

Applications can be made here https://forms.gle/8BcWYQVZgyPx4twf7 . Applications close on Monday 22 June 2026 at 5pm.

Opportunity for Choreographers in JOMBA! Live and Digital Open Horizons Platforms

April 21, 2026

The Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) has opened submissions for the 2026 JOMBA! OPEN HORIZONS Platforms, an integral part of the annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience - South Africa’s premiere contemporary dance festival which runs from 27 August to 8 September 2026 in Durban.

In its commitment to present bold, experimental, and inclusive dance, JOMBA! offers the live and digital curated OPEN HORIZONS platforms as an opportunity for dance-makers to showcase new works in a safe, and supportive environment.

JOMBA! DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS aims to showcase screen-dance and dance film, focussing on work that is created specifically for the screen.

*SIMUNYE - Breeh Cele (South Africa) (Pick of the Platform - JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons 2025)*

JOMBA! invites submissions (5–10 minutes in length) from local, African and international choreographers that engage the moving body in relation to the camera, editing, framing, and digital space, where choreography extends beyond the stage into cinematic forms.

“We are looking for works conceived as screen-based choreographic experiences, where movement, lens, time, and environment are integral to the making of the film,” explains JOMBA! Artistic Director Lliane Loots.

*The Space Between Us - Maulid Owino (Kenya) -JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons 2025*

“We welcome innovative, experimental, and critically engaged practices within the contemporary dance idiom, including interdisciplinary and hybrid forms that push the boundaries of how dance is created, perceived, and circulated in digital space.”

Selected works will be screened publicly on the festival’s YouTube channel as part of the official programme. An award of R2000 is given to a jury-selected “Jury Pick of the Platform.”

*Radix - Mario Gaglione (Italy/South Africa) - JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons 2025*

JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS is a platform offered to live short-form dance works (6–8 minutes). The festival is looking for works that sit within the contemporary dance idiom, that are bold, experimental, and can include interdisciplinary approaches to live performance. Choreographic voices that explore innovation, risk-taking, and fresh perspectives will be at an advantage. “We want performances that can engage audiences in new ways and contribute to the beautifully evolving landscape of African contemporary dance,” says Loots.

*ISPA programme in ECHOS OF GREATNESS - choreography by Gabriel Youngstar*

An award of R2,500 is given to a jury-selected “Jury Pick of the Platform” work.

Both platforms are not funded, and therefore, no travel or accommodation support is provided.

Festival Director Dr Lliane Loots says: “We remain deeply committed to creating accessible, inclusive spaces for dance makers, the OPEN HORIZONS platforms are vital incubators for boundary-breaking choreographic voices, and provides a solid foundation from which to springboard new works into the world.”

*SISUKAPHI - 2025 Winning work with choreography by Mfundiseni Ndwalane*

All platforms have limited slots, and the selection process is competitive. Applicants are encouraged to submit their entries early to ensure full consideration.

For more information about JOMBA! go to https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za

Applications can be made on:

Digital https://forms.gle/ntqRy9uj23htX53QA The deadline is 20 July 2026.

Live https://forms.gle/2PVJaZUeH7tFVuRh7 The deadline for submissions is 29 June 2026.

Enquiries can be emailed to jombafestival@gmail.com .

FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY presents new works in ENKUNDLENI in May

April 16, 2026

KZN’s premier contemporary dance company presents a new season called ENKUNDLENI for two performances only at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on Friday, 8 May at 7pm and Saturday, 9 May at 2.30pm.

Referencing open spaces where we gather, ENKUNDLENI offers audiences four new cutting-edge works created by company dancers, Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika, Siseko Duba, and Zinhle Nzama, with direction and dramaturgy by company artistic director Lliane Loots.

*Siseko Duba and Sbonga Ndlovu in FLATFOOT's new season of work titled ENKUNDLENI at Sneddon Theatre on 8th and 9th May 2026*

“It’s a programme of dance that reminds us of the power of our bodies to tell stories; stories of pain and triumph, of deep self-reflections and of community,” says Loots. “These works honour the storyteller in all of us, as we see the six incredible dancers of FLATFOOT tackle the most personal and most beautiful parts of being human at this time in our difficult geopolitics”.

The season begins with Siseko Duba’s quartet “iPupho” that dives into the powerful and mysterious terrain of dreams. The work captures the uncanny experience of awakening within a dream - where the body moves through worlds that feel intensely real, yet remain just beyond reach. Given the deep African connection to ancestral presence and dreams, this work navigates a very contemporary world of memory, self, and belonging.

*Jabu Siphika in FLATFOOT's new season of work titled ENKUNDLENI at Sneddon Theatre on 8th and 9th May 2026*

Zinhle Nzama’s duet “BRIGHTEST DARKNESS” explores the deep paradox of finding light within darkness. It is an intimate duet between a man and a woman, where these two figures navigate tension, resistance, connection, and letting go, as an act of courage rather than defeat. Ultimately, Nzama’s work offers audiences a testament to survival and triumph – beautiful and painful!

Jabu Siphika’s solo work, next on the programme, “Ngibize Siphi?” explores the search for identity through the question of one’s surname. The solo reflects a deeply personal journey of belonging, loss, and self-discovery as Siphika navigates her own fragmented amaZulu histories and the need for recognition through how we are, or are not, named.

FLATFOOT veteran, Sifiso Khumalo ends the programme with his new work, “in transit”. Echoing a nation that sits, stands, and waits in long queues, this extraordinary male trio delves into how we stop, move on, wait to continue, and endlessly begin again and again. The work infers a deep-seated distress at the waiting on broken promises – be these local, personal, and further global politics.

FLATFOOT partners again with lighting designer Wesley Maherry whose evocative designs see these four works sculpturally find a home on the Sneddon stage. Maherry’s lighting intensifies the narratives of each work and pulls the audience into the visions and contemporary world of ENKUNDLENI.

FLATFOOT’s ENKUNDLENI has two performances only at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, on Friday 8 May at 7pm and Saturday 9 May at 2.30pm.

Tickets are R100 each (students, scholars and pensioners pay R80). Booking is via Webtickets - https://www.webtickets.co.za/event.aspx?itemid=1592907018

This season is made possible through a partnership with the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre (UKZN).

Honouring Durban’s Wesley Maherry’s 15 years as Production and Technical Manager for JOMBA!

August 28, 2024

In a surprise citation and award ceremony on the opening night of the 26th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience on Tuesday 27 August, in Durban, the festival’s Technical and Production Manager, Wesley Maherry, was awarded a special citation in recognition of his fifteen years of committed service to the festival.

Wesley Maherry Production and Technical Manager for JOMBA! receiving the citation at the opening of the festival from Lliane Loots Artistic Director/Curator of JOMBA!, and Ismail Mahomed, the Director of the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Photo Val Adamson

“We often forget that live theatre cannot function without deeply motivated, organised and gifted people whose work is to technically serve the vision of the artists and make their work possible on stage. Long hours in dark theatres and endless admin, are some of the challenges. In this environment, the CCA and JOMBA! has been – and is – honoured to have Wesley Maherry in the role of Production and Technical Manager for JOMBA! and all its various offerings”, said Ismail Mahomed, the Director of the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

JOMBA! is South Africa’s longest-running and most successful African contemporary dance festival. In 2022, JOMBA! was awarded the National Institute for Humanities & Social Sciences Award for Best Digital Creations. In 2023, JOMBA! received an accolade from Business Arts South Africa for the festival’s outreach and activism work.

“Wesley’s specialised stage production and digital technology skills underline why JOMBA! remains so highly acclaimed in the creative industries. His work on the online digital delivery of the JOMBA! MASIHMABISANI dialogues and colloquium and, of course, the main JOMBA! festival in both Durban and at our JOMBA! @ The Market Theatre in Johannesburg, is unprecedented. Fifteen years speaks to a deeply committed support of artists and artistic spaces”, says Lliane Loots, the Artistic Director/Curator of JOMBA! “2024 heralds the 15thanniversary year that Wesley Maherry has worked for UKZN’s Centre for Creative Arts and the JOMBA! Festival.”

Wesley works at UKZN’s Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre as a Production Manager. He is part of a very efficient but small team – headed by theatre manager Jackie Cunniffe - that keeps the Sneddon one of eThekwini’s preferred live theatre spaces. He has an undergrad degree in Drama and Performance Studies. In 2024, he graduated with an MA (through UKZN’s Drama Progamme) where he interrogated his lighting design practice with choreographers like Vincent Mantsoe and Lliane Loots. His MA began to look at how dance lighting can respond to the challenges and needs in Africa noting that most of the research around theatre and dance lighting is still only generated from Europe and America.

JOMBA! runs until Sunday 8 September in venues in Durban with a satellite event in Hilton and then goes to the Market Theatre in mid-September.

For more info go to jomba.ukzn.ac.za

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uKhoiKhoi performs with legacy artist Robyn Orlin at JOMBA!

August 26, 2024

South African live-looping band uKhoiKhoi will be on stage in a dance production by acclaimed choreographer, Robyn Orlin, to be performed for the first time in South Africa at the 2024 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience in Durban, and at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

uKhoiKhoi, consisting of musician and composer Yogin Sullaphen and vocalist and performing artist Anelisa "Annalyzer" Stuurman, has been composing for and performing in Orlin’s stage productions since 2021. The band, together with dancers from the Johannesburg-based dance company Moving into Dance Mophatong, has toured extensively across Europe with these shows over the past 3 years.

Orlin, a world-renowned and award-winning South African choreographer, is honoured as the 2024 JOMBA! Legacy Artist at the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts from 27 August to 8 September 2024 in Durban. Orlin’s work “we wear our wheels with pride, we slap your streets with color…we say ‘bonjour’ to satan in 1820”, which pays homage to Durban’s rickshaw drivers, will be performed in South Africa for the first time during the 2024 JOMBA! dance festival.

As composers of the music in “we wear our wheels with pride…”, uKhoiKhoi forms an integral part of the performance. On stage, multi-instrumentalist Sullaphen and vocalist Stuurman, known for her blend of indigenous chanting and operatic styles, use a multi-layered approach to create the music with their distinctive Afro-electro sound. In real-time, they seamlessly layer electronic, acoustic and indigenous instruments, together with Stuurman’s vocals, resulting in a dynamic musical experience.

Recently, uKhoiKhoi has also been collaborating with Orlin on another one of her dance productions, “...How in salts desert is it possible to blossom...”, together with the Garage Dance Ensemble from O’Kiep in the Northen Cape. In June this year, they toured with this production across the south of France, with more performances scheduled in Italy and France towards the end of the year. Orlin says, “One day I hope ‘...How in salts desert…’ will also come to South Africa.”

In addition to the international performances with Orlin’s stage productions, uKhoiKhoi has since its formation in 2019 performed across South Africa at festivals, such as Mieliepop and Fête de la Musique, and at other live events.

uKhoiKhoi is currently working on a new album which is scheduled for release in 2025. This is in addition to their debut offering which was a self-titled 3-track EP, released in 2020, followed by their second EP “Nongqawuse”, released in 2022.

About the upcoming performances in Orlin’s dance production at JOMBA!, Stuurman says, “We are excited to perform ‘we wear our wheels with pride…’ for the first time in South Africa after having toured internationally with this production over the past few years. It is an honour for uKhoiKhoi to collaborate with a choreographer of Robyn Orlin’s stature.”

uKhoiKhoi will be on stage in “we wear our wheels with pride…” at JOMBA! in Durban at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on 7 and 8 September 2024, and at a satellite festival at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg on 11 and 12 September 2024.

Tickets for “we wear our wheels with pride…” at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre are available at Computicket, and for the shows at the Market Theatre tickets can be purchased from Webtickets.

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JOMBA! dance residency 2024

June 9, 2024

A new residency that focuses on the development of young women in dance has been announced as an exciting new addition to the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience which takes place in Durban from 27 August to 8 September 2024. The 7-day residency runs during the festival and aims to encourage and support women in dance.

“Over the years we have observed that there are fewer female dancers working professionally in the contemporary dance space, and so we identified a strong need for more female-focused dance development to be done in Durban,” explains Dr Lliane Loots, Artistic Director of JOMBA!, which is hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN).

This year the residency offers space for 6 female dancers aged between 18 and 30 years who have some dance training and now seek to push their skills and make their mark in the dance world as professionals.

The JOMBA! residency will be led by Gaby Saranouffi (Madagascar/South Africa). Pic Val Adamson

The JOMBA! residency, led by Gaby Saranouffi (Madagascar/South Africa), will focus on further developing the dancers’ technical abilities, as well as include workshops around forging a professional image and work ethic that will aid in preparing these young dance professionals for future work opportunities. The dancers-in-residence will have access to the full festival programme and have the opportunity to meet and engage with professional companies that are visiting the festival.

The selection process will be done through auditions in the form of a contemporary dance class with some improvisation on Saturday 6 July at 10am at the Flatfoot Dance Studio (UKZN). Dancers-in-residence will be expected to be available for the full 7-day duration (26 August – 1 September 2024) with the outcomes of the residency presented at the JOMBA! YOUTH OPEN HORIZONS platform on Sunday 1 September 2024.

There are selection criteria that include that dancers must be older than 18 years of age, and must reside in eThekwini (Durban) or surrounds. While the residency and festival are offered free of charge to those who are successfully selected, participants must supply their own transport and food needs.

To apply send a (no longer than) two-page CV to Thobile Maphanga: thobimaphanga@gmail.com by Monday 24 June by 4pm.

For full details of criteria, what is required on the CV and more info about the process go to https://bit.ly/JOMBAResidency2024

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South African Online Contemporary Dance Conference Attracts Global Participation

May 8, 2024

The annual online South African contemporary dance conference JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES, hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts’ JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, taking place from 22 to 24 May, 2024, has attracted significant participation from around the globe.

This conference or academic colloquium, is now in its fourth edition and will feature dance-makers, academics, dancers, educators, and researchers from 11 countries including Brazil, Canada, Cape Verde, France, Germany, South Africa, UK, USA, and Zimbabwe. The theme or “provocation” this year is (RE)TURN TO THE DRUM? looking at contemporary dance’s engagements with traditions, cultures, memory, hybridity, and contested identities.

The conference which is free and open to all interested, features keynote addresses, panel discussions, as well as “abstracts or papers” presented by participants. An opening keynote address will be made by steering committee member Dr Mbongeni Mtshali, a performance-maker, scholar, artist, and teacher based at the University of Cape Town, in dialogue with the rest of the steering committee that includes dance-focussed academics, researchers, and practitioners: Clare Craighead (lecturer at the Durban University of Technology), David Thatanelo April (director, teacher, choreographer, and dance lobbyist), Gift Marovatsanga (CEO and Facilitator at Refined Images Studio), Dr Lliane Loots (lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal), Dr Sarahleigh Castelyn (Associate Professor/Reader University of East London UK), Thobile Maphanga (dance practitioner, scholar, creative collaborator, reading for her MA at UKZN) and Prof Yvette Hutchison (South African Reader/Associate Professor at the University of Warwick UK).

Keynote dialogues will be held with Dada Masilo, South African dancer and choreographer, known for her unique and innovative interpretations of classical ballets; SA-born, now France-based Robyn Orlin an internationally celebrated contemporary dance-maker, dancer and teacher; Mamela Nyamza award-winning choreographer and dancer who is known globally for her innovative and deeply intersectional and political dance-making; Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe, winner of international and national awards in performance and choreography, demonstrates that to be successfully integrated into the performance arena as a contemporary artist, one does not have to disavow one’s cultural heritage; Moeketsi Koena professional dancer, teacher and choreographer, and co-founder of newly incorporated Itrotra Art X Connection - a newly registered arts platform.

Additionally, Canadian Dena Davida introduces TURBA, a new journal that negotiates histories of the study and practice of live arts curation, and Thobile Maphanga chairs a fascinating panel with Albert Ibokwe Khoza (South Africa), Djam Neguin (Cape Verde) and Lorin Sookool (South Africa) titled where they will interrogate a possible common zeitgeist that is calling these contemporary artists from Africa, to dig up ‘past’ narratives and re-present them in the bold ways that they are.

Papers, digital engagements, and further dialogues open up important discussions around contemporary identity and how it relates to imagined and real histories as they intersect with culture and tradition in dance-making. The “(re)turn to the drum” is set up as both a question and as a tipping point to think about our futures.

Some of these papers and engagements will be presented by:

Alexandra Gonçalves Dias, dance artist and Professor at UFPEL in Brazil, with a dedicated focus on decolonising narratives;

Claude Jansen, part of Dancing Instruments - In Conversation with Looted oBjeCts – a long-term journey with a team of Namibian and German curators, healers, artists and (O)Ngoma Drums;

Fabrice Mazliah, a choreographer and performer/dancer based in Germany/Switzerland, who has initiated long-term research into embodied knowledge and the heritage inscribed into dance practitioners;

Francesca Matthys, a South African Interdisciplinary dance artist, writer, facilitator and Kundalini yoga teacher based in London;

Kristi-Leigh Gresse, a South African dancer and choreographer known for her transformative impact on the arts.

Lara Barzon, an EUTOPIA co-tutelle PhD fellow with a joint PhD between Theatre and Performance Studies (University of Warwick) and Cultural Studies (University of Ljubljana);

Marcia Mzindle, a freelance writer, drama, and performance tutor at the University of KwaZulu Natal (Howard College), choreographer, and dancer;

Onalenna Sellwane, a writer, theatre maker, and digital marketing creative based in Johannesburg;

Rainy Demerson, a dance artist and scholar invested in global intersectional feminism and decolonial embodiments;

Saranya Devan, recognised for her versatility in drama, dance performance, and choreography and holds a Masters in Bharathanatyam from the University of Madras and a Masters in Dance from the UCT;

Sylvia “Magogo” Glasser, a cultural activist, teacher, choreographer, mentor, anthropologist, and writer, who founded Moving into Dance in 1978 as a non-racial dance company and training organisation and was director until 2013;

Tatenda Kanengoni, a Zimbabwean writer, researcher, and multimedia storyteller.

The conference will be streamed live on YouTube on the following link https://www.youtube.com/jomba_dance. Participants will present on Zoom, and those who wish to apply to join in the “Zoom Room”, can contact Thobile Maphanga at thobimaphanga@gmail.com

For more information and news, as well as the schedule – go to:

https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/masihambisane-dialogues/