(KZN DanceLink’s Peter Taylor congratulates
the winners of Durban Dance Awards 2015, from left, Jabu Siphika, Clare
Craighead & Monde Marafane. Absent: Christopher Kindo and Sandile Mkhize who
were not able to attend the awards. Pic by Val Adamson)
With dance facing
huge funding and support challenges, it is no small miracle that Durban still
produces some of the finest dancers and choreographers in the country.
To celebrate and
honour those who bravely continue to ply their trade – and inspire and entertain
audiences - in very difficult circumstances, KwaZulu-Natal Dance Link presented
its Durban Dance Awards 2015 recently.
The awards were
made after Giyani Lusha 2015, an exuberant and exciting programme of 10 new
works by the city’s aspiring young dancers at the Stable Theatre, in the heart
of the city.
Choreographer of the Year: Incorporating the last 18 months of
contemporary dance works presented in Durban, the Choreographer of the Year
award went to Christopher Kindo for his haunting piece, Song for Zinhle, at the SA Women’s Arts Festival 2013 at the
Playhouse.
Kindo studied at
the University of Cape Town Ballet School and then performed and trained at the
Boston Ballet Company and Topf Dance
Company in Boston, Massachusetts. He was a founding member of Jazzart and
danced and choreographed for the then Napac, Pact and the State Theatre in
Johannesburg and Free Flight Dance Company. He has taught and choreographed for
The Cape Youth Dance Company, The Soweto Dance Theatre, Ballet theatre Africa,
Dance for All and the Playhouse Theatre. He is the associate director Free
Flight Dance Company with Adele Blank and founder and director of Full Circle
Dance Centre and The Tercia Kindo Dance Project in the Cape. He is also a
prolific freelance choreographer having worked with several dance companies,
television commercials, musicals and movies.
The other nominees
were Sifiso Khumalo for Ugubhu and
Lliane Loots for Hope and The Inheritance of Loss.
Breakthrough/Newcomer: In the Breakthrough/Newcomer Award
category there was only one nomination and the award went to Monde Marafane. Coming
from a street style hip hop background, Marafane won many competitions with his
former crew, Encore. His dance vocabulary expanded while training at Break-Thru
Dance company from 2010 to 2013 under Taryn Makaab Smit.
In 2013 he joined the Playhouse
Dance Residency, further strengthening his technique. He worked with
choreographers such as Casey Swales and Mark Hawkins.
Dancer of the Year (Male): Dancer of the Year (male) went to Sandile
Mkhize, a member of the Playhouse Dance Residency. Mkhize was exposed to the
world of performance while participating in Bright Sparks, a development
projects run by Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre, led by dance teacher Nelly
Rushualang. He fell in love with the contemporary dance style, so when the
opportunity came to train at Siwela Sonke, he grabbed the opportunity. He
trained for three years under Jay Pather and has since performed locally and
abroad – most notably with Musa Hlatswayo in a piece called Umthombi in Paris and Mali. He is
currently performing Rite of Spring
at the Dance Umbrella Festival in Johannesburg.
The other nominees
were Sifiso Khumalo and Pavishen Paideya.
Dancer of the Year (Female): Dancer of the Year (female) went to
Flatfoot Dance Company’s Jabu Siphika. who joined Flatfoot Dance Company in
2007 after training with Phenduka Dance Theatre’s trainee /training programme,
where she also spent some time as a senior member of Phenduka Dance Theatre. She
participated in Choreolab 2007 – a developmental initiative of the Jomba,
Contemporary Dance Experience. She also assists with facilitation on Flatfoot’s
dance development projects in KwaMashu, Umlazi and in the rural area of Ndumo.
She is the coordinator of Flatfoot’s Siyakhula
Dance Project (KwaMashu) and is now the Projects Officer overseeing all the
company’s urban- based dance education programmes.
She won a first
place in choreography for the National Creative Arts Youth Festival in KwaZulu-Natal
in the group dance competition in 2000 and in 2010 she joined Flatfoot in
Cameroon performing at a festival called Abok I Ngoma. She has also been with
the company to Holland on a performance and teaching exchange with Introdans Interactive
in Arnhem. In January 2011, Siphika and her Siyakhula Dance Project were
invited to be part of a cultural exchange in Zimbabwe by the youth arts
organisation, Chipawo. She took a one-year sabbatical from Flatfoot during 2012
where she worked with Gregory Maqoma and his Johannesburg based Vuyani Dance Theatre.
The other nominees
were Rachel Abrahams and Julia Hosmer.
Abalalongi Award: The special Abalalongi Award for services
to dance in KwaZulu-Natal went to a worthy Clare Craighead for her very
generous and creative contribution to the Durban dance community. Craighead was introduced to Flatfoot Dance
Company in 1999 when a student at the then University of Natal, Durban. Her
professional, dance-related career began in 2002 as stage manager for Siwela
Sonke Dance Theatre. Since then, she has worked in a technical capacity with
local dance companies Flatfoot Dance Company, FFFDC and Phenduka Dance Theatre.
In 2003 she became company manager for Flatfoot and has remained in that role
until today. She is also the festival manager for Jomba! Contemporary Dance
Experience.
Craighead has
frequently choreographed for the Flatfoot Training Programme, participated as a
dance educator in Flatfoot’s dance education programmes, both urban and rural,
and in the company’s schools’ workshop programme. She has been a part-time lecturer
and tutor in the Drama and Performances Studies Programmes at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, and recently became head of Live Performance at the Durban
campus of Afda, the South African School of Motion Picture Medium and Live
Performance. She is also a talented graphic designer and is responsible for
Flatfoot’s print design work and for their website.
KZN DanceLink
chairman Suria Govender congratulated the awardees for their considerable
achievements and also thanked the National Arts Council of South Africa for its
continued support.
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