(Ntombi Gasa. Pic by Val Adamson)
Ntombi Gasa has
recently been appointed Interim Artistic Director of Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre
in Durban.
The decision was
taken with a unanimous vote by the company’s board of directors and is made
with the intention to make her appointment permanent.
Gasa is a choreographer,
dancer and dance teacher who has performed and travelled extensively with
Siwela Sonke. A founding member of Siwela Sonke, she serves as a director on
the company’s board and heads Siwela Sonke’s Training and Development
Programmes. She began her dance career in 1994 at the Natal Playhouse Youth Development
Programme under the directorship of Alfred Hinkel and then Jay Pather. Gasa
obtained a Dance in Education certificate from the University of KwaZulu Natal
in 2000.
Gasa has been an
active member of the Dance Alliance and has directed numerous youth programmes.
Throughout her career, Gasa has valued working with both young children and the
elderly. She currently runs classes and teaches students from 6 years to 75
years. Her strong focus on development has seen her bringing dance and dance
education to various communities in KwaZulu Natal, both rural and urban, from
KwaMachai in the South Coast to Kwa Mashu.
She has performed
internationally and her CV is highly impressive. Apart from numerous other
awards, in 1999 she was nominated as Most Promising Female Contemporary Dancer
in Durban, and in 2009 she won the Special Abalongi Award for Leadership in
Dance in KwaZulu Natal, an award she shared with long time collaborator,
Neliswa Rushualang.
With an
international reputation for extraordinary performance work, Siwela Sonke Dance
Theatre has always been rooted in KwaZulu Natal with a clear focus on nurturing
the exceptional talent found in the province. Having started her career in
Siwela Sonke’s first training company, this appointment for Gasa reflects that
mandate for development. Through this restructuring, Jay Pather has elected to
fulfil the role of Executive Artistic Director and will continue to work with
Ntombi in leading Siwela Sonke in exciting new directions.
Last year saw great
growth for Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre thanks to a grant by the National
Lotteries Commission. From the YouthDanceForce Beachfront performance for
Siwela Sonke’s Youth Development programmes in Jan 2015, the company premiered
Jay Pather’s new work rite at the
2015 Dance Umbrella as a Site-Specific performance at the Museum of African
Design in Johannesburg.
Shortly thereafter,
the company conducted dance workshops in Mbombela in collaboration with the
Africa Centre, while continuing to present exciting corporate performances for
events such as the Diakonia Good Friday Service at the Durban ICC.
June and July saw
Siwela Sonke claim public spaces as performances venues as the five week season
of Cityscapes, Re-routed was
performed throughout Durban’s CBD and Beach Promenade. When the JOMBA
Contemporary Dance Experience took place in Durban in August, Siwela was proud
to be invited to once again present Pather’s rite as a stage performance at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre to
rave review.
Another highlight
for the company came in October with a season commissioned by the South African
State Theatre to perform Jay Pather’s Qaphela
Caesar! in Pretoria. Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre was then invited to Cape
Town for the first ever Cape Town International Dance Festival (CTIDF) and then
to Stellenbosch for Spier Wine Estate’s Festival of White Light. With performances
in Gugulethu, Artscape Opera and Artscape Plaza, the CTIDF saw Sbusiso Gantsa’s
Viewpoints and an extract of Jay
Pather’s Qaphela Caesar! performed to
thrilled audiences. The final performance of the year saw the company
travelling to Stellenbosch to perform Jay Pather’s multicultural dance
spectacle, From Before at Spier’s
annual Festival of White Light.
If 2015 is any
indication, Siwela Sonke can expect to grow from strength to strength by
beginning their 2016 Artistic Programme with EDGE: Season of Emerging Choreographers. A space for new
choreographic identities performed at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre in February
2016 made possible through support from the National Lotteries Commission and a
grant from the National Arts Council. EDGE
explored and celebrated new identities, new design, and new thoughts using
dance and visual imagery that offer a multi-layered, crisp and vivid view of an
emerging South Africa.
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