(Sifiso Kitsona Khumalo. Pic by Val Adamson)Local dancer, choreographer and dance educator Sifiso Kitsona Khumalo has been announced as the recipient of this year’s Eric Shabalala Dance Champion Award which was established by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) and the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, in memory and recognition of dancer, choreographer and dance educator Eric Shabalala.
Shabalala died in 2011. This award honours and remembers his contribution of dance in Durban and South Africa and continues to pay respect to a legacy of dance practitioner who selflessly give time and energy to continue to promote and foster a climate that allows dance to flourish particularly in this province.
This is not an award given purely for excellence in performance or choreography but it is made primarily in recognition of an individual who supports and nurtures young dancers through teaching and mentorship.
“Sifiso, who is also the 2012 recipient of the KZN Dancelink Dancer of the the Year Award, has a solid presence in the dance community here in KZN.” says Lliane Loots, Artistic Director of JOMBA!. “He has a strong career as a dancer and choreographer with Flatfoot Dance Company, but is also a dedicated teacher and mentor to quite literally hundreds of young dancers that he works with, in the various Flatfoot programmes but also in his own long standing Clermont based dance programme called Kitson’s Kids/The Young Ones. We are delighted collectively, as the JOMBA! team, to give the 2012 award to Sifiso Kitsona Khumalo; a man who we believe embodies the spirit of a dance champion for the continued growth of contemporary dance in Durban and South Africa.”
This year’s JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, with principal funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, ends on Sunday. There are two performances of the Reunion Island’s Philippe Pelen!AIA From Cave to Sky at The Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at 19h30 tomorrow and Sunday. Tomorrow there is a Youth Fringe event at the Dorothy Nyembe Hall in Cato Manor at 14h00. For more information visit www.cca.ukzn.ac.za
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