JOMBA! @ The Market Theatre celebrates world-class contemporary dance in Johannesburg

9 – 12 September 2026 / 7pm / John Kani Theatre, The Market Theatre: Following the 28th edition of the Centre for Creative Arts' JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience in Durban (26 August to 6 September), the pioneering festival returns to Johannesburg with JOMBA! @ The Market Theatre from 9 to 12 September with a carefully curated four-night season celebrating exceptional contemporary dance from South Africa, Africa and Europe.

Now in its fourth partnership year, JOMBA! and the Market Theatre continue their commitment to expand access to ground-breaking contemporary dance by bringing a selection of the JOMBA! Festival's productions to Johannesburg audiences, to celebrate innovation, artistic excellence and the transformative power of movement across cultures, generations and borders.

JOMBA! @ The Market Theatre takes place in the John Kani Theatre and features internationally acclaimed artists and companies alongside two of South Africa's most influential choreographic voices.

Celebrating South African choreographic excellence

The season honours two previous JOMBA! Legacy Artists whose work has transformed contemporary dance in South Africa and internationally. Acclaimed choreographer Mamela Nyamza presents her breath-taking ensemble work THE HERD/LESS, a visually arresting meditation on community, conformity, vulnerability and survival. Characterised by Nyamza's fearless choreographic language and uncompromising social commentary, the work powerfully interrogates belonging and resistance.

Internationally celebrated choreographer and performer Vincent Mantsoe, whose deeply embodied artistic practice bridges ancestral knowledge with contemporary performance, presents his compelling new solo Desert Poems. This intimate work offers a profound meditation on endurance, spirituality and transformation through Mantsoe's distinctive movement vocabulary.

International collaboration takes centre stage

Opening this fourth JOMBA! @ The Market Theatre season is the extraordinary HEROES, presented by the world-renowned Dutch company Introdans in collaboration with Uganda's Joseph Tebandeke and guests, Durban's FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY. This remarkable programme spans internationally celebrated choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich, alongside new South African choreography by Zinhle Nzama. The programme also features the inclusive masterpiece IUNGO by Adriaan Luteijn, bringing together performers of different backgrounds, generations and physical abilities in a powerful celebration of humanity, diversity and connection.

Workshops with internationally renowned artists

As part of the season, JOMBA! and The Market Theatre will host two free professional development workshops at the Sophiatown Studio, offering dancers and movement practitioners the opportunity to work directly with internationally acclaimed artists.

On Tuesday, 8 September (4.30–6pm), Giuseppe Calabrese, ballet master with Introdans, leads a repertoire workshop exploring the choreographic language of renowned Belgian-Moroccan choreographer Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. Participants will engage with concepts of fluidity, musicality, connection and dynamic movement quality, drawing on Calabrese's extensive experience performing Cherkaoui's celebrated repertoire.

On Friday, 11 September (4.30–6pm), Vincent Mantsoe shares his celebrated KOBA Technique, described as a "physical meditation." Integrating traditional and contemporary dance practices, the workshop invites participants to explore identity, presence and embodied expression through Mantsoe's internationally recognised movement philosophy.

Booking Information Performance tickets: https://markettheatre.co.za/ Workshop bookings: 2024jomba@gmail.com. Workshop places are free, but booking is essential as numbers are limited.

Performance Programme

Wednesday, 9 September | 7pm HEROES Introdans (Netherlands) with guests Joseph Tebandeke (Uganda) and FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY (South Africa)

Thursday, 10 September | 7pm HEROES Introdans (Netherlands) with guests Joseph Tebandeke (Uganda) and FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY (South Africa)

Friday, 11 September | 7pm THE HERD/LESS Choreographed by Mamela Nyamza MAM – Mamela's Artistic Movement (South Africa)

Saturday, 12 September | 7pm Desert Poems Choreographed and performed by Vincent Mantsoe

Workshop Programme

Tuesday, 8 September | 4.30–6pm Introdans Repertoire Workshop Led by Giuseppe Calabrese Venue: Market Theatre Sophiatown Studio

Friday, 11 September | 4.30–6pm KOBA Technique Workshop Led by Vincent Mantsoe Venue: Market Theatre Sophiatown Studio

ISPA's Gabriel YoungStar takes Pick of the Platform at JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS 2026

DURBAN, 28 August 2026: Last night (27 August) young Durban choreographer Gabriel YoungStar’s work "The Meeting", featuring students of the International School of Performing Arts, was named Pick of the Platform at JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS 2026, the annual showcase for emerging dance-makers presented as part of the Centre for Creative Arts' 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience.

YoungStar's work, The Meeting, took the familiar ritual of the corporate boardroom and transformed it into an arena of ambition, hierarchy, manipulation and survival. Behind the polished language of professional diplomacy, the piece revealed another conversation communicated through gesture, posture, proximity and power - exploring shifting relationships of authority and submission, alliance and betrayal, control and confrontation.

Photo of Gabriel YoungStar's The Meeting at JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS. Photo by Val Adamson

Announcing the award, the JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS  jury praised the range of work on this year's platform, noting the commitment, discipline and focus shown by the young performers on stage, with each work fully rehearsed and carefully costumed, with attention to good lighting and some wonderful music choices. 

 Of The Meeting, the jury said the piece impressed with precise partnering, risk-taking and an intense energy that elicited spontaneous encouragement from the audience, with an ensemble that was synchronised and well-drilled in its exploration of confrontation, submission and control.

The jury gave a special mention to choreographer Thembani Ngxelo for What Happened to the People of Bantu?, which they described as an evocative and visceral conjuring of cultural memory, drawing on Ngxelo's Xhosa heritage and combining strong visual, live vocal and digital elements. The jury noted that Ngxelo's choreographic voice has much to say and deserves further development.

Thembani Ngxelo for What Happened to the People of Bantu? at JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS. The jury gave a special mention to choreographer Thembani Ngxelo for What Happened to the People of Bantu?, which they described as an evocative and visceral conjuring of cultural memory, drawing on Ngxelo's Xhosa heritage and combining strong visual, live vocal and digital elements. Photo by Val Adamson.

The 2026 Open Horizons jury comprised: Clare Craighead (non-voting chair), Drama and Production Studies lecturer at DUT, dance writer and academic based in Durban, Jabu Siphika, Durban-based dancer and choreographer, senior company member of FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY; Tammy Ballantyne, Johannesburg-based dance writer and journalist and Warona Seane, acclaimed South African actor and theatre director, teaching in UKZN's Drama and Performance Studies Programme.

JOMBA! continues until 6 September at venues around Durban. For more information go to https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

Dr Ismail Mahomed honoured with 2026 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Lifetime Achievement Award

DURBAN, 25 August 2026: Dr Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, was presented with the 2026 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Lifetime Achievement Award last night (25 August) at the opening of the 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, at UKZN, Durban.

The award was presented by Dr Lliane Loots, curator of JOMBA!, on behalf of the Centre for Creative Arts and the JOMBA! team, in recognition of Dr Mahomed's sustained contribution to South African and African contemporary dance and to the wider arts sector.

Dr Ismail Mahomed, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, received the 2026 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Lifetime Achievement Award last night (25 August) at the opening of the 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, at UKZN, Durban, pictured here addressing the opening night audience. Photo by Val Adamson.

In presenting the award, Dr Loots paid tribute to Dr Mahomed's decades of work opening platforms for artists and dancers across South Africa, the African continent and beyond. She described him as someone who understood, often before others did, that an artist needs not only a stage but a door that opens, not only an audience, but someone willing to make the spaces in which art and dance can breathe.

Through his years of service to the arts and his leadership of the Centre for Creative Arts, Dr Mahomed has helped create openings where there might otherwise have been walls, and possibilities where there might have been silence. “Dr Mahomed’s work has never been only about presenting what is already known, but about making room for what is still becoming building platforms upon which dance makers could gather their bodies, stories, questions and dreams, and take the risks that art requires.”

“Across festivals, programmes, collaborations and countless encounters at the Centre for Creative Arts, Dr Mahomed's leadership has helped weave connections between dancers, artists, communities and countries, as a bridge-builder, a door-opener, a provocateur of possibility, and above all, a steadfast believer in the necessity of the arts. For JOMBA!, Dr Mahomed's contribution forms part of the festival's longer choreography, one built not only of dancers and dances, but of those who have helped hold the space, nurture the vision, and ensure that the dance could continue.”

In accepting the award, the festival paid tribute not only to what Dr Mahomed has done, but to what his work has enabled: the artists and dancers who found a stage, the voices and dancing bodies that found an audience, the artistic conversations that crossed borders, and the possibilities that became real because he helped make space for them.

The Lifetime Achievement Award was presented with what organisers described as deep gratitude, admiration and affection, marking one of the milestone moments of this year's opening night.

JOMBA! runs until 6 September at various venues in Durban, and a shorter version of it runs a The Market Theatre in Johannesburg from 13 to 16 September.

More information can be found at https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

DIGITAL JOMBA! 2026 brings free screen dance from South Africa, France, Tanzania and Brazil

As part of the 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, running from 25 August to 6 September 2026 in Durban, JOMBA! once again presents its digital dance offering, DIGITAL JOMBA! 2026 which is accessible to global audiences online.

Over the past six years, screen dance has grown into a significant creative form, and JOMBA! continues to champion it, particularly work coming out of the global South. This year's programme features a curated line-up of digital artists, screened free of charge via the festival's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/Jomba_Dance/streams

Darkroom Contemporary (Cape Town, South Africa) feature on Sunday 30 August @ 6pm (SAST) with a special retrospective programme drawing on sixteen years of filmmaking from Darkroom Contemporary, the Cape Town-based screendance company founded in 2010 by choreographer and filmmaker Louise Coetzer and photographer and filmmaker Oscar O'Ryan. Across the selected works, the company's ongoing exploration of movement, landscape, architecture, memory and the camera comes into focus, tracing the development of Coetzer and O'Ryan's collaboration and their sustained approach to choreography as a cinematic language.

Dream's Descent (Greg Maqoma, Sara CF de Gouveia, Inka Kendzia and Motheo Moeng)

The programme includes eight screendance films: Blue Funk, Not From Here, META | m o r p h, Lacuna, The Forgotten,give/take (the act of erasure), WRPD, and I walk the street with loose parts, featuring performers including Bronwyn Craddock, Mukovhe Monyai, Farnel Smart, Mthuthuzeli November, Christopher Sherwood Adcock, Louise Coetzer and members of the Dance For All InSPIRAtions Youth Company, among others.

Louise Coetzer is a Cape Town-based multidisciplinary dance artist, filmmaker and choreographer whose practice spans screendance, site-specific performance and digital media, presented internationally across Africa, Europe, North and South America. Oscar O'Ryan is a Cape Town-based photographer and filmmaker whose documentary work has included projects for the BBC and Discovery Channel, alongside screendance works screened in France, Mexico, the UK and Finland. Together they lead Darkroom Contemporary, with O'Ryan serving as the company's Technical Director.

NGIPHAMANDLA: Life in a Womb (Zandile Sphelele Phili)

Their work is supported by the National Lotteries Commission, the National Arts Council, the Christian Ludolph Marais Trust, and the Department of Cultural Affairs & Sport.

Brazilian choreographers Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira screen their work Delirar o Racial (Delirium of the Racial), on Wednesday 2 September @ 6pm (SAST). This work explores spatiality beyond conventional structures of space and time. Drawing on the thinking of philosopher Denise Ferreira da Silva, the pair use methods developed in their own choreographic practice, engaging with uncertainty, and disorder to build an experimental reflection on a timeless ethics of Black life.

Pontes and Ferreira's collaborative practice sits at the intersection of dance, performance, visual art and critical thought, developed through their ongoing Repertório trilogy, which frames dance as a form of self-defense training while engaging questions of race, coloniality and the politics of the body. Delirar o Racial was commissioned by the Pivô Satélite Program in 2021.

JOMBA! DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS returns as the festival's platform for new screen dance talent on Wednesday 26 August @ 6pm. Following an open call for submissions earlier in 2026, an independent JOMBA! jury shortlisted eight works, with the final screening selection made through a voting process concluding in mid-August. The winner of 'Pick of the JOMBA! DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS 2026' will be announced on Wednesday, 26 August, following the screening of the jury's selected works.

Works featuring in this open platform are:

Estela Lapponi: Seliberation #3 (Brazil)

Marcia Mzindle: The Weight of Being Seen: A Refusal (Durban, SA)

Zandile Sphelele Phili: NGIPHAMANDLA: Life in a Womb (Durban, SA)

Bongani Shezi: Silent Voice (Durban,SA)

Matthieu Nieto and House of Wondar: Our Mother (France/Tanzania)

Ruth Asidi and Guga Santos: Boca da Mata (Brazil)

Gregory Maqoma, Sara CF de Gouveia and Inka Kendzia: Dream’s Descent (Johannesburg, SA)

All DIGITAL JOMBA! 2026 programming is free to view at https://www.youtube.com/Jomba_Dance/streams

For more information, go to www.jomba.ukzn.ac.za

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

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

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

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.

PJ Sabbagha’s Noah

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.

THE HERD/LESS

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

The Centre for Creative Arts and the University of KwaZulu-Natal present 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience 26 August – 7 September 2026

 Moving Bodies. Speaking Truth. Choreographing Resistance.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Creative Arts presents the 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, a thirteen-day celebration taking place from 26 August to 7 September 2026. JOMBA! features internationally acclaimed choreographers, emerging artists, scholars and audiences in a festival that is one of the continent’s leading platforms for contemporary dance.

This year's programme welcomes artists from South Africa, Spain, France, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Uganda, Ireland, Nigeria, Tanzania and Brazil, presenting an extraordinary programme of performances, artist residencies, workshops, public dialogues, youth platforms and digital dance.

The theme for JOMBA! 2026 is Choreographies of Activism: Moving Bodies as Disruptive Presencing. Curator and Artistic Director Dr Lliane Loots explains: “Whether confronting histories of colonialism, racial injustice, environmental catastrophe, gendered violence, displacement, disability or belonging, dance remains one of humanity's oldest and most powerful ways of making ourselves visible. This year's JOMBA! asks what it means to move as an act of presence - and to dance as an act of activism.”

Honouring a Lifetime of Dance Activism

Each year JOMBA! celebrates a South African artist whose contribution has reshaped the country's dance landscape, and this year’s Legacy Artist is the acclaimed choreographer, curator and arts activist PJ Sabbagha, Founder and Artistic Director of the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative. He presents Noah, the concluding work in his Noah trilogy that combines multimedia performance, dance theatre and powerful visual imagery, to reflect on climate crisis, loss, memory and survival. 

Celebrating South African Choreographic Excellence

Two of South Africa’s most influential choreographic voices, and previous JOMBA! Legacy artists, Mamela Nyamza and Vincent Mantsoe. Mamela Nyamza, presents her breath-taking ensemble work THE HERD/LESS, a visually arresting meditation on community, conformity, vulnerability and survival. 

Internationally celebrated choreographer and performer Vincent Mantsoe, whose deeply embodied practice has long bridged ancestral knowledge with contemporary performance, brings his new solo, Desert Poems, which offers an intimate meditation on endurance, spirituality and transformation.

A Global Conversation Through Dance

Jamaican guests and one of the Caribbean's leading contemporary dance companies L'ACADCO: A United Caribbean Dance perform in an exhilarating programme 1LUV. Founded and directed by the legendary Dr L'Antoinette Stines, L'ACADCO has a distinctly Caribbean contemporary dance language rooted in African diasporic histories, Jamaican cultural traditions and the internationally acclaimed L'Antech technique. This is a powerful celebration of Black creativity, spirituality and resilience. 

Another major highlight is HEROES, presented by the acclaimed Dutch company Introdans in collaboration with Uganda's Joseph Tebandeke and Durban's FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY. This remarkable programme spans internationally celebrated choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich, alongside South African choreography by Zinhle Nzama, and the inclusive masterpiece IUNGO by Adriaan Luteijn, bringing together performers of different backgrounds, generations and physical abilities.

Tanzanian-based French choreographer Matthieu Nieto, presents PEPONI (Paradise in Swahili), the debut of the House of Wondar, created in collaboration with Tanzanian performers and South African poet and dramaturg Koleka Putuma. The work explores the idea of paradise from an African perspective, and whether hopeful futures can be imagined and created. 

Nigerian-born, Ireland-based choreographer Mufutau Yusuf, whose intimate site-responsive solo Proses on neither here nor there forms part of the KZNSA Gallery programme. Through movement, meditation and quiet physical intensity, Yusuf reflects on mortality, memory and renewal - an immersive encounter that blurs the boundaries between performance, ritual and public space.

Spanish Focus: International Collaboration and World Premiere

Following recent successful international Spanish partnerships, JOMBA! offers a focus on contemporary dance from Spain, in partnership with the Embassy of Spain in South Africa.

One of Europe's most exciting choreographic collectives Barcelona-based Iron Skulls Co., with their innovative fusion of breakdance, hip-hop, physical theatre and contemporary dance are the festival’s Artists in Residence. They will develop the world premiere of Accumulation of Unaccountable Awakenings, created with South African choreographer Tebby W.T. Ramasike. This ambitious work brings together Iron Skulls' explosive urban physicality and Ramasike's distinctive Afro-Butoh practice, creating a powerful dialogue around memory, resistance, spirituality and healing. 

Other features of the festival include: 

The JOMBA! Durban Edge Solo Grants, presented in partnership with the KZNSA Gallery, showcase two newly commissioned works by Durban artists Skyla Buchanan and Mthokozisi Mkhwanazi.

Digital artists include Cape Town's award-winning Darkroom Contemporary, and Brazilian choreographic duo Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira, with the acclaimed film Delirar o Racial (Delirium of the Racial).

JOMBA! DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS, showcases new screen dance from emerging filmmakers and choreographers; the JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS provide a professional performance platform for emerging and established choreographers, and the much-loved JOMBA! YOUTH OPEN HORIZONS, in partnership with the Stable Theatre all add to the festivals’ rich offerings.

The FEMME FORWARD Residency, has expanded its commitment to supporting emerging women-identifying dance artists in KwaZulu-Natal. This year's residency focusses on dance for the screen, in partnership with Darkroom Contemporary, with five Durban-based artists. 

JOMBA! Talks Dance are post-performance conversations on stage, while the JOMBA! Forging Futures, is a free dialogue to debate questions facing contemporary performance in South Africa and beyond. The JOMBA! KHULUMA Dance Writing Residency supports emerging dance writers, particularly postgraduate dance and performance students, by building their critical writing skills within the festival environment.

Local dancers can take part in professional workshops and masterclasses led by visiting South African and international artists. Booking is essential.

For more information go to: www.jomba.ukzn.ac.za or to book go to Webtickets. Special full festival passes at a discounted rate are available.

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

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

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.

Call for Submissions for JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES #6 Online Colloquium 27–29 May 2026

The Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), in partnership with the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, will host the 6th JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES (JMD) Colloquium in an online format from 27 to 29 May 2026. Under the theme “Choreographies of Activism: Moving Bodies as Disruptive Presencing,” this year’s dialogues invite scholars, artists, choreographers, and activists to explore the role of dance as a powerful form of embodied activism in contemporary global contexts.

“Across the Global South, dance has long served as a site where histories of resistance, survival, refusal, and futurity are carried through the moving body,” explains Dr Lliane Loots, the chair of the JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES steering committee. “We are looking to examine dance - not simply as metaphor - but as a practical mode of political engagement—a way that bodies assemble, appear, disrupt, and claim space, visibility, and justice within systems shaped by colonial and postcolonial power.”

Close by …  La rue d’à-côté … (JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience 2024) Compagnie Ex Nihilo (Marseille, France) in an encounter with FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY (Durban, South Africa). Photo by Val Adamson

In a global moment marked by deep political upheaval, economic inequality, and the lingering impacts of colonial histories, the dialogues ask urgent questions about the role of movement and performance. How does the dancing body respond to forms of censorship, erasure, and the denial of humanity experienced in many parts of the world today? What possibilities do rhythm, gesture, stillness, improvisation, and collective movement offer as alternatives to dominant social, spatial, and political orders?

The programme will bring together international and regional contributors to engage with myriad questions including: how dance can be used as activism, and what choreographic strategies act as a form of disruptive presencing under conditions of risk, surveillance, or repression amongst others.

uXinzelelo (JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience 2024) BreeH Cele. Photo by Val Adamson

JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES welcomes a range of presentation formats that reflect the embodied nature of dance research and practice. These include academic papers, lecture-demonstrations, performance lectures, artist talks, facilitated movement scores, curated panels, and other hybrid or experimental forms.

Proposals of up to 450 words are invited and should be submitted by Thursday, 2 April 2026 (4pm).  Abstract submissions and enquiries email: 2024jomba@gmail.com  

For the full submission call out go to: https://tinyurl.com/yc2d7m6v

For more information about the JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE Dialogues and archive, visit:
https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/masihambisane-dialogues/

JOMBA! Digital and Live Open Horizons Pick of the Platform Awards

Dance-makers Brenda “BreeH” Cele (Pietermaritzburg), and Mfundiseni Ndwalane (Durban) were awarded the JOMBA! Pick of the Platform for their works in the Digital Open Horizons and Live Open Horizons, respectively this week.

Digital Open Horizons is a curated platform of screen dance films, and the Live Open Horizons platform is an opportunity for choreographers to showcase their works in a professionally supported stage presentation at the Festival. These are both presented as JOMBA!’s commitment to developing and growing contemporary dance in Durban and South Africa.

This year’s Digital Open Horizons jury included Pak Ndjamena, a multifaceted artist based in Maputo (Mozambique), Ivan Barros an award-winning Mozambican photographer and video-maker, Clare Craighead a Drama and Performance Studies lecturer at DUT, a dance writer and academic, and Thobile Maphanga, a Durban-based dancer, dance writer and researcher interested in the histories and narratives of Black women.

Brenda BreeH Cele Pic by Val Adamson

Brenda “BreeH” Cele was awarded the JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons Pick of the Platform for her striking dance film, “Simunye” cited by the jury as a compelling docu-dance film which impressed them with its powerful integration of dance, science, storytelling and activism. Tackling the very urgent issue of climate change through a South African lens it presents a strong conceptual and technical vision which is informative and emotionally resonant. 

This year's JOMBA! Live Open Horizons offered two solo performances and two group works. Jury members were Clare Craighead, (non-voting Chair), Jabu Siphika, dancer and choreographer and a member of FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY, Tammy Ballantyne, dance writer and journalist, and Hannah Ma, choreographer, and founder of hannahmadance. 

Speaking at the awards after the performances, Tammy Ballantyne said, “The diversity in themes and content was pleasing, with a good mix of choreographic styles and production elements. We used various criteria to assist in selecting the winner, such as artistic and emotional impact; choreographic innovation; performance quality and relevance and resonance.”

Choreographer Mfundiseni Ndwalane receives his JOMBA! Live Open Horizons Pick of the Platform Award from Jury members - Tammy Ballantyne, Jabu Siphika and Hannah Ma at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on 28 August. Photo: Val Adamson.

The overall winner of the platform was "Sisukaphi?", choreographed by Mfundiseni Ndwalane. Drawing on his own compositions and choreography during his research for his MA at UKZN, the work explores storytelling elements alongside a fusion of African popular music and traditional elements such as amaZulu dance. The jury praised Ndwalane for his cohesive vision in bringing together live music and singing, projections and scenic elements which brought depth to the theme and choreography. “His invitation to the audience to consider one's ancestry as a collective was a powerful visual and aural moment of using the body as a memory tool. His ensemble was focussed, polished and committed.”

Thandeka Maqebula’s "The Silent Voice", performed by Anele Makanya. Photo: Val Adamson.

The jury commended Thandeka Maqebula on the solo "The Silent Voice", performed by Anele Makanya.They commented on Makanya's powerful stage presence and strong physicality. There is opportunity for Maqebula to develop her choreographic voice which displays impressive conviction and focus. 

Tegan Peacock's "Burst my Bubble". Pic by Val Adamson

“Tegan Peacock's "Burst my Bubble" employed humour and a sense of whimsy, particularly with her choice of music. Her use of brightly coloured balloons as metaphors for hopes and dreams that are sometimes popped, shows a unique sense of intuitive timing and even clowning.”

The International School of Performing Art "Echoes of Greatness”, choreographed by Gabriel Youngstar. Pic by Val Adamson.

“The International School of Performing Arts (ISPA) students shone in a large ensemble work titled "Echoes of Greatness", choreographed by Gabriel Youngstar. The work explored rhythmical and often challenging choreography with elements of ritual. Some excellent partnering and strong lifts showed solid technique and use of trust exercises. The group was beautifully costumed and well-lit.”

“It is heartening to see the range of work being offered by young dance makers and a real engagement with physical storytelling on many levels,” said Ballantyne on behalf of the jury.

JOMBA! continues until Sunday 7 September with a range of performances, workshops and talks. For more information and to see the full programme, go to: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

Tickets are R85 and R65 (concessions and groups). Booking via WebTickets. 

Ends

Choreographer BreeH Cele’s work “uXinzelelo” wins Pick of the JOMBA! Live Open Horizons Platform

In the first time since COVID hit the globe in 2019, JOMBA’s popular Live Open Horizons made its way back live into the theatre to an appreciative audience, with Pietermaritzburg Choreographer BreeH Cele’s work uXinzelelo taking the honours receiving the “Pick of the Platform” award last night (29 August).

BreeH Cele (2nd from left) receiving the Pick of the Platform Award from Tammy Ballatyne (left) Jabu Siphika and Yaseen Manuel (Right) - Pic by Val Adamson

Jurors for the Open Horizons were dancer/choreographers Yaseen Manuel (Unmute Dane Company) and Jabu Siphika (FLATFOOT Dance Company) and dance writer and researcher Tammy Ballantyne.

uXinzelelo by BreeH Cele- Pic by Val Adamson

The jurors' citation read: “The Pick of the Platform was “uXinzelelo”, choreographed by BreeH Cele, with a carefully conceptualised work encompassing the weight of unique struggles faced by the black community when it comes to mental health concerns. Cele wove magic through the use of powerful, live vocals, strong voiceovers, evocative lighting choices, and disciplined, focussed performers. The stage was covered in white maize meal, which the performers became caked in as the strong choreography unfolded, with good use of the floor and imaginative partnering. At times, there was a sense of call and response between singers and dancers, as well as clever changes in pace and rhythm. An impressive work by a young woman who is using this research as part of her Master's studies.”

uXinzelelo  was performed by Nandile Khumalo, Sabelo Cele, Asanda S. Khathi, BreeH Cele, Slindile Mthethwa, Thulisile Sithebe, S'khona Mathenjwa, Pertunia Msani, Neo Dube and Nomthandazo Nxabela.

Accepting the award, which carries a small cash honorarium, BreeH Cele, said that she is looking to use it to further develop a short film on the work.

Inescapable, choreographed and performed by Siphesihle Vilakazi and Anneline Mazibuko- Pic by Val Adamson

Other works included Inescapable, choreographed and performed by Siphesihle Vilakazi and Anneline Mazibuko, from Durban, SA; SACRIFICIUM choreographed by Versatile Youth Company’  Thimna Sitokisi from Gugulethu, SA, and performed by Inam Dyonasi; Ndimphiwe Koloti; Sandile Dyushu; Buntu Anta and Simthembile Mampufo, and Giselle and me choreographed and performed by Sarahleigh Castelyn (SA/UK) .

SACRIFICIUM choreographed by Versatile Youth Company’  Thimna Sitokisi - Pic by Val Adamson

The jurors noted the common threads binding the four works on this platform – the deep, inner struggles with mental health and emotional trauma. All four found inventive ways to communicate their stories through well-rehearsed and conceived works, with attention to effective lighting and a variety of choreographic choices.

Giselle and me choreographed and performed by Sarahleigh Castelyn (SA/UK) - Pic by Val Adamson

JOMBA! continues until 8 September with performances workshops and discussions.

For more info go to jomba.ukzn.ac.za

-ends

JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons Pick Of The Platform Announced

The 26th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, which is currently running in Durban, announced its JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons “pick of the platform” awards for 2024 on Wednesday 28 August. The programme was screened on the festival’s YouTube Channel and is available for the remainder of the festival until 8 September here

The Digital Open Horizons platform invites digital submissions of original works from new and established dance-makers across Africa. These works which last 3 to 8 minutes, were reviewed by an independent jury and seven selected for this platform at the festival: Lacuna by Louise Coetzer (South Africa, Darkroom Contemporary), Echoes by Femi Adebajo (Nigeria), As the Mountain Stood Still by Dave Gardner/Jacques Batista (South Africa), Internal Struggles by Diana Gaya (Kenya), Yolk by Skyla Buchanan (SA/Cyprus),Moments by Marcia Mzindle (South Africa) and Blue Funk by Louise Coetzer (South Africa, Darkroom Contemporary)

The jury selected Yolk in first place, Echoes in second and Lacuna in third as the “picks of the platform”.

Yolk by Skyla Buchanan (SA/Cyprus)

Yolk was selected in first place for its “innovation, beautiful cinematography and interesting settings as well as its subject matter”. Filmed by Beatrice Mariani, and choreographed, performed, directed and edited by Skyla Buchanan a contemporary trained dancer, practitioner and choreographer working with a multidisciplinary approach to performance. 

Yolk is set against the oppressive heat of summer, and explores the link between womanhood and fertility - where the sense of being a woman is derived from a "bioessentialised" maternal instinct: “A woman with no children is a wasted potential of a womb, wasted space, wasted time, wasted life- the wasted yolk of a fresh egg.”

Echoes by Femi Adebajo (Nigeria),

Nigeria’s Femi Adebajo’s Echoes, performed by Adebajo and Janed Aduayom was awarded second place. This work was selected for its “interesting pace and rhythm as well as its use of location and space and his creation of tension and suspense.”

Adebajo is a creative multidisciplinary artist who focuses on exploring art as a medium of connection to the human mind. 

Echoes provides a creative representation of the concept of pressure and its influence on both the physical bodies and mental states of individuals. It aims to offer a powerful and artistic insight into the human experience, highlighting the effects of pressure and its significance in our lives.

Lacuna choreographed and performed by Mthuthuzeil November, directed by Louise Coetzer

In third place selected for its “wonderful play between dark and light, its use of slow motion and its cinematic sets” was Lacuna choreographed and performed by Mthuthuzeil November, directed by Louise Coetzer with videography: Oscar O'Ryan, and produced by Darkroom Contemporary.

Coetzer is a versatile dance artist also renowned for her multidisciplinary approach to performance art. Lacuna traces the unfilled spaces of the brutalist architecture enveloping the dancer. It is a cinematic study of light and shade, seen and unseen

The Festival offers a range of workshops, talks and performances and runs until 8 September. Tickets are available through Computicket.

All festival information is available on the festival website:  https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

-ends

Dancers from Bangalore (India) for this year's JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

The UKZN Centre for Creative Arts' JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, which takes place from  August 27 to September 8, will feature two exceptional performances from India by the Bangalore-based dancer and choreographer Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy. These performances will be presented both at UKZN, Durban and at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg with the support of the Consulate General of India (Durban & Johannesburg), and the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre of the Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), Government of India.

The performances will be at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in Durban on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 September, and at JOMBA! @The Market in Johannesburg on 11 and 12 September. These performances are part of a larger contemporary dance programme that includes workshops, panel discussions, and virtual screen dance presentations taking place at various venues in Durban, and followed by a condensed version in Johannesburg.

Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy.

Deepak Shivaswamy, trained in Yoga, and Indian martial art Kalaripayattu  has been developing pedagogy for contemporary dance since 2004. He is a significant figure in contemporary dance, exploring modern Indian identities and its evolving concept of home. His latest double bill, titled "Vasudaiva Kutumbakam," which also features choreographers and dancers Prashant More and Mirra, reflects this journey. The term, which translates to "the world is one family," serves as a guiding principle for his performances at JOMBA!. Shivaswamy explains, “This concept of universal kinship inspires our work, using dance as a universal language to connect and resonate with audiences globally.”

Weight of Time

Deepak Shivaswamy’s first piece, Weight of Time, challenges conventional notions of art's purpose. It invites audiences to let go of expectations and simply be present, savouring the performance as an experience in itself. His second piece, Mycelium Maatu, draws inspiration from the mycelium—a natural network of fungal threads that interconnect in intricate, organic patterns. This concept profoundly influences Shivaswamy’s approach to dance, encouraging a creation that mirrors the mycelium’s interconnected and evolving structure.

Mycelium Maatu

Among the exciting additions to JOMBA! 2024 are opportunities for audiences to engage directly with dancers and choreographers. These include special sessions where attendees can hear from the artists about their creative processes and works. On September 6, Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy will join JOMBA! curator Lliane Loots for an on-stage discussion following his performance, as part of the JOMBA! TALKS DANCE series. This conversation will offer deeper insights into Shivaswamy’s work and creative vision.

On Friday, September 6, Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy, alongside Prashant More and Mirra, will lead a free open workshop titled Aattam Idam: A Place for Playing. Scheduled from 4pm at the UKZN - Howard College Campus Drama and Performance Studies Dance Studio in Durban. This workshop is based on the concept of “PLAY.” It invites participants of all skill levels to explore dance and movement through creative and joyful expression. This is followed by another workshop on September 12 at The Market Theatre.

These workshops are offered free of charge to participants, but booking is essential as places are limited. The workshop is only open to dancers over 16 years. Book with e-mail thobimaphanga@gmail.com.

They will also present a closed workshop with Rudra Dance Company and ParamAtham Dance Theatre in Durban on Saturday 7 September,

Performance timings are 7pm on Thursday 5 and Friday 6 September at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, and at 6.30pm on 11 and 12 September at The Market in Johannesburg

For more information and to see the full programme, go to: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

Booking via COMPUTICKET for Durban, and by WEBTICKETS for Johannesburg.

JOMBA! dance residency 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

 -ends

Veteran South African dance-maker, Robyn Orlin, named the 2024 JOMBA! LEGACY ARTIST

The 26th annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, hosted by UKZN’s Centre for Creative Arts, has announced that it will honour veteran South African dance-maker Robyn Orlin as the 2024 JOMBA! Legacy Artist. 

Orlin’s work we wear our wheels with pride and slap your streets with colour… we said ‘bonjour’ to satan in 1820 … will feature at JOMBA! which takes place at The Sneddon Theatre in Durban from 27 August to 8 September, with a satellite festival at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg from 11 to 14 September 2024.

Robyn Orlin

Originally created in 2021 we wear our wheels …  is a collaboration with Johannesburg based Moving into Dance. This is a work that negotiates the complicated Durban rickshaw histories – and it finally comes to Durban.

Born in 1955 Johannesburg, Orlin’s vision of contemporary dance continues to be a kind of aesthetic eclecticism where she draws heavily on her own histories of ballet and modern, and a fascination with film and cinema. She has shifted the boundaries of what we consider dance to be, often falling into witty and biting political satire. Her love of kitsch, tutus and yellow plastic ducks has seen her creating iconic images that still haunt a South African dance landscape. 

we wear our wheels with pride and slap your streets with colour… we said ‘bonjour’ to satan in 1820 … 

Orlin was trained at the London School of Contemporary Dance (1975-1980), then at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (1990-1995). She began her career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher in South Africa, where she was quickly spotted, as much for the singularity of her dance making, as for the chaos that reigns in her creations.  Her (multiple prize-winning) dance piece Daddy, I have seen this piece six times before and I still don’t know why they’re hurting each other, which mocks the difficulties and shortcomings of the young rainbow nation, but also classical ballet as a trajectory of discrimination, enabled her to tour in Europe and brought her international recognition. France has since become a creative territory for her and she has made her first film, Hidden Beauties, Dirty Stories (Ina/Arte, 2004), her first opera, Handel’s L’Allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato (Opéra Garnier, Paris, 2007), and her first theatre production, Les Bonnes, by Jean Genet (Théâtre de la Bastille, Paris, 2019) in France. She continues to create work in South Africa.

Artistic Director and curator, Lliane Loots says, “The JOMBA! festival’s 2024 overall curatorial theme and provocation is “the memory of home” and we can think of no South African artist better suited to unpack both the simplicity and complexity of this in her work. Memories are about history, belonging, sometimes suffocating nostalgia, and maybe also about charting new futures … Robyn’s work is all of this and more”.

“Orlin’s work has not been performed in South Africa for many years, and so it is with great thanks for the support from IFAS (Paris) and IFAS (Johannesburg), that JOMBA! welcomes her back to South Africa as our 2024 JOMBA! Legacy artist.”

JOMBA! takes place at The Sneddon Theatre in Durban from 27 August to 8 September, and the satellite festival takes place at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg from 11 to 14 September 2024.

we wear our wheels …  will be performed on 7 and 8 September in Durban and on 11 and 12 September at The Market in Johannesburg.

For more information go to www.jomba.ac.za.

JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Announces International Guests for 25th Edition

This year, the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience presented by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) celebrates its 25th anniversary, offering dance fans a 13-day treat of world-class contemporary dance that will see both local and international dance makers converge on Durban from 29 August to 10 September.

Alongside the very best that South Africa has to offer JOMBA! will feature international guests from Mozambique, Switzerland, Netherlands, Madagascar, Uganda, Romania, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Brazil. This 25th edition offers not only a powerhouse of performances but workshops, residencies, talks, panel discussions, and virtual screen dance.

The theme for this year is “(in)tangible heritages”. Curator and Artistic Director, Dr Lliane Loots elaborates: “In curating this year’s festival, we have invited dance makers to reimagine their – and our – relationship with ideas of belonging and our varying (in)tangible heritages. The 25th JOMBA! is honouring artists who, through their work and their moving bodies, generate a new sense of belonging that questions who we are at this critical moment in our history”. 

Mozambique’s award-winning dancer/choreographer Pak Ndjamena

Mozambique’s award-winning dancer/choreographer Pak Ndjamena presents his arresting solo work, DEUS NOS ACUDI / GOD HELPS US, that interrogates contemporary African male identity and pulls no punches in its message. 

Thobi Maphanga in hannahmadance’s INVASION(S) (Germany)

Two dance companies from Germany will feature: Hannah Ma’s hannahmadance performs a work that links with South African performers Thobi Maphanga and Jabu Siphika.  INVASION(S) analyses the act of invasion as the act of violently entering a (political, physical, biological) territory from a feminist, and post-migrant perspective. Helge Letonja and his company Of Curious Nature – made up of artists from all over the world presents UN-ZEIT which creates hypnotic images where the perception of time seems to fray and dancing bodies search for support. 

Virva Talonen (Finland)

FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY in Portable Home Project (Finland /SA)

With support from the Finnish Embassy (Pretoria), Virva Talonen presents a work in collaboration with Durban’s FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY. Her Portable Home Project is a contemporary dance performance series that delves into a concept of home and its various definitions. The Portable Home Project is co-created by Finnish Lighting Designer Nanni Vapaavuori. 

ACE dance and music (UK)

Birmingham (UK) based ACE dance and music features in a spectacular double bill – UNKNOWN REALMS – with choreography by Burkina Faso’s Serge Aimé Coulibaly and South Africa’s Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe. Coulibaly’s THE NIGHT BEFORE TOMORROW is a metaphorical night where people try to do their last dance before an uncertain tomorrow. Mantsoe’s MANA – THE POWER WITHIN engages the sacred, ritualistic and shamanic. 

Ramanenjana (Romania/Madagascar)

JOMBA! partners again with Rerouting Arts at St Anne’s (Hilton) to share a collaboration between Romania and Madagascar. Ramanenjana is a docufiction performance about a dance that made history. The work examines dance’s societal role and how colonialism spread misconceptions about this extraordinary moment in history. Ramanenjana will also be performed for audiences in Durban. 

Unmute Dance Theatre (SA)

JOMBA! continues to open up access to work that makes visible intersections around dance and disability. JOMBA! 2023 DANCEABILITY FOCUS features dance-makers who are shifting global perceptions around disability: Joseph Tebandeke (Uganda), Unmute Dance Theatre (Cape Town, South Africa), and an inclusive programme from Introdans (Netherlands).

Joseph Tebandeke (Uganda)

Introdans (Netherlands)

In partnership with ASSITEJ, JOMBA! offers the new JOMBA! FOR YOUTH FOCUS aimed at younger audiences, to help grow youth audiences for dance.

Switzerland’s Joshua Monten’s GAME THEORY 

Artists from Switzerland and the Netherlands feature in a new JOMBA! programme that travels to schools and also offers public performances. Switzerland’s Joshua Monten, brings a delightful engrossing work called GAME THEORY that will travel to two schools. This work looks at some of the building blocks of play: freedom and rules. Dutch Dance company de Stilte, focuses on developing productions and performing for children. They bring FLYING COW choreographed by Jack Timmermans which is the story of two girls and a boy who embark on a stand-off, flying on the wings of their imagination.

FLYING COW choreographed by Jack Timmermans (Netherlands)

Other features of the 25th Anniversary festival include two major South African works, the JOMBA! Youth Open Horizons, JOMBA! ON THE EDGE, after performance talks, an engaging dialogue with dance-makers, the launch of the 25th-anniversary book, a series of free workshops and masterclasses, a lighting workshop, a screen dance residency, a dance writers residency, and a smaller curated festival at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg.

Tickets are R80 or R50 (students, scholars, pensioners) or R350 – once off FULL festival pass to see everything.

Booking through COMPUTICKET

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

-Ends

Call for papers for third JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES – 24 to 26 May

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts in partnership with Warwick University (UK) and the African Dance Disability Network, calls for submissions of abstracts, papers and digital participation for the third annual JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES, a colloquium to engage in robust and meaningful conversations around contemporary dance, online from 24 to 26 May.

JOMBA!’s curator, Dr. Lliane Loots is working with Warwick’s Prof. Yvette Hutchison on a two-year UKRI – AHRC funded research project entitled Encountering disability through contemporary dance in Africa, and thus the colloquium will focus into the provocation of “Integrated dance practices: moving centres”. A host of dance, practitioners, academics and associates are expected to participate including Joseph Tebandeke, a Ugandan dancer and choreographer based in Kampala, who will be one of the key-note speakers at this edition. The actual colloquium will be presented online and open to public viewing.

Unmute Dance Company - photo by Val Adamson

This third annual JOMBA! MASIHAMBISANE DIALOGUES, hosted in the 25th anniversary year of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, sets out to engage scholarship, pedagogy and practices into integrated dance as an embodied form with a particular African focus, without being exclusive.

The call out for papers, digital scholarship and any new integrated forms of knowledge sharing is open and closes on 4 April 2023. For more details or to download the official call-out frame of reference go to https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/masihambisane-dialogues/

-ends

Innovative Dance Works Commissioned for JOMBA! EDGE Platform at Dance Festival

Innovative Dance Works Commissioned for JOMBA! EDGE Platform at Festival

Three KwaZulu-Natal dance-makers have been commissioned to create works for this year’s JOMBA! EDGE platform, as part of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience taking place from 30 August at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in Durban.

JOMBA! which is presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal has a long history of supporting Durban and KZN-based dance-makers and has offered grants to three choreographers/dancers to help push their creation of new local work. In the JOMBA! EDGE mentored platform, Sandile Mkhize (Durban), Tegan Peacock (Pietermaritzburg) and Pavishen Paideya (Durban) will present their work on Friday, 2 September at 7pm and Saturday, 3 September at 2.30pm.

The same programme will be presented by JOMBA! and Rerouting Arts at the Old Mushroom Farm in Howick on 17 September at 6pm.

“All three have displayed an uncanny survival instinct and despite so much lost time for dance over the COVID shut down, all three have continued to make meaningful work over this time,” says JOMBA!’s Artistic Director Lliane Loots. “We are delighted to honour them in our 2022 festival and have asked to respond to the curatorial provocation of this year’s festival – the (im)possibility of home.”

Sandile Mkhize

Co-founder and Artistic Director of Phakama Dance Theatre Sandile Mkhize will premiere TAKE ME BACK HOME, a duet that begins to rethink notions of black masculinity and brotherhood. He takes us on a journey to what home means for the body – a place of self-discovery and self-interrogation.

Pavishen Paideya

Accomplished dancer and choreographer and artistic director of Rudra Dance Theatre, an Indian dance company, Pavishen Paideya presents SAMSARA - an honest and culturally magnificent dance journey into Diaspora Indian South African identity and ideas of home and belonging.

Tegan Peacock

Performance artist and creator and founder of Rerouting Arts, a collaborative arts organisation, Tegan Peacock present HEAD_SPACE as she attempts to trace the internal conversations of the body and the mind in turmoil. It is a mapping of patterns, pressures and struggles, a performative cartography of self and belonging that works with live music.

The festival offers a 13 day feast of contemporary dance, and includes performances and dance talks at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre with a Youth Open Horizons event at the Stable Theatre and select online offerings, as well as workshops, and an extensive online blog.

The Festival takes place from 30 August to 11 September. Tickets for performances at the Sneddon Theatre are R80, and R65 for students, scholars and pensioners through Computicket (https://tickets.computicket.com/). All other events are free.

(Tickets for the programme in Howick on 17 September at 6pm are R80 and can be booked through https://bit.ly/BookJombaReroutingHowick

For more information follow on social media or go to the website: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/

 -ends