(“The Women Who Fell
From The Moon” choreography by Khutjo Green. Dancers Asanda Ruda, Lesego
Dihemo, Sussera Olyn and Thenjewi Soxokoshe. Pic by Herman Verwey)
The annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, hosted by
the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, celebrates its 20th
edition with the theme Legacy, from August 28 to September 9, 2018, at the Elizabeth
Sneddon Theatre, with special performances at the Open Air Theatre and the
Durban Art Gallery. This landmark edition celebrates 20 years of bringing
Durban the world through contemporary dance and nurturing and supporting the
development of contemporary dance through open workshops, grants and the
creation of platforms for dance-makers to showcase their work.
This year’s JOMBA! sees dance companies and choreographers
making their way from Johannesburg, Cape Town, Spain, Switzerland, India, USA
and Madagascar to join Durban companies in a programme of innovative dance
theatre work that promises to provoke, entertain, delight and challenge. This
2018 Legacy edition of JOMBA! also
has a strong focus on ‘Durban Dances’ and offers unprecedented spaces for the
evolution of eThekwini’s dance community.
The JOMBA! opening features Johannesburg-based Moving into
Dance Mophatong (MIDM) which is celebrating its own 40th anniversary this year.
“As they performed in the very first edition of JOMBA! in 1998, we felt it only
fitting to honour them,” says Artistic Director of JOMBA! Lliane Loots. MIDM will perform two new works: Sunnyboy
Motau’s “Man Longing”, a brooding yet
beautiful work that uses dance and poetry to explore the sinister world of
human trafficking, and guest artist, Khutjo Green’s collaboration with MIDM
women dancers. “The women who fell from
the moon” inspired by the Nina Simone’s song Four Women, a searing exploration of the collective power of woman.
The acclaimed Indian dancer and choreographer Anita Ratnam
presents her iconic and award winning work A
Million Sitas. Heralded as one of the forerunners of Indian contemporary
dance, Ratnam’s performance weaves the many disciplines of dance, theatre,
ritual, archaeology and women's issues. A
Million Sitas is a re-telling of the classic Ramayana, using every weapon
in her creative dance arsenal - voice, movement, song, dance, and storytelling
- to illuminate the character of Sita.
Two dance-makers from Madagascar feature this year: Malagasy
Gaby Saranouffi partners with South Africa’s Moeketsi Koena in a riveting duet
“Corps/Body” a collaboration between
four artists from France, South Africa, Madagascar and Mozambique that explores
embodied links between the real and unreal through photography, music and dance.
And Malagasy Haja Saranouffi presents a duet called Danse Des Bouteilles based on a dual between myth and reality and
in which the ‘art of bottles’ interrogates how we place value on a person in
society.
(Aïda Colmenero Dïaz in
“Aka Nativa”)
Spain’s Aïda Colmenero Dïaz presents her solo Aka Nativa; a quirky and beautiful work
using voice and body that is a manifesto for life and the living. Dïaz has a
strong and long relationship with many African dancers, which led to her astounding
short-film project called She Poems
of solo dance performed by creative African women that Dïaz has encountered in
her travels on the African continent and are inspired by poems written by
women. Some of these will be screened at JOMBA! @ DAG.
Swiss choreographer and dancer Ioannis Mandafounis, once
again shares his unique vision of challenging audience/dancer relationships.
His latest duet One-One-One offers
the simple staging of two parallel lines on the floor and two chairs, one on
each line. The dancers invade the public space and invite the audience into an
unexpected experience providing a witty and challenging dance work.
(Musa Hlatshwayo presents
“Udodana”)
As part of this year’s Legacy
theme and “Durban Dances” focus, grants, commissions and various spaces for the
ongoing evolution of eThekwini’s dance were given to local dance-makers. 2018
Standard Bank Young Artist (SBYA) for Dance, Durban’s own Musa Hlatshwayo
presents, Udodana, which premiered at
the National Arts Festival playing to standing ovations. This powerful work
explores the black male body, challenging both traditional and religious
systems that continue to dehumanise men into a state “where black masculinities
are forever changing for the worst while patriarchy continues to reign
supreme”.
JOMBA! presents an unique collaboration between Durban’s
Flatfoot Dance Company and Cape Town’s Unmute Dance Company. Both dance
companies have a reputation for working in spaces that challenge access and
inclusivity in South African dance and this meeting is sure to be explosive. A
double bill kicks off with Yaseen Manuel’s provocative Aslama and the journeys into his own identity as a Muslim South
African dancer. Aslama takes its
inspiration from the struggles of the Syrian people. In a context of on-going
war and violence, Manuel – and the dances from Unmute and Flatfoot - wonder
where personal faith comes into our making of dance. The second work, a
collaboration between choreographers Lliane Loots and Andile Vellum is titled The Longitude of Silence, which has been
created over only 14 rehearsals in 14 days. The
Longitude of Silence begins to question how we map identity through shared
sound and ask what happens in the chasm of silence.
JOMBA! 2018 grants were awarded to three young professional
local dance-makers to premier new work on the especially focused JOMBA! ON THE
EDGE platform. JC Zondi, the 2017 winner of the ‘JOMBA! Pick of the Fringe’ award,
opens this platform with Classi_filed,
the gutsy Kristi-Leigh Gresse offers her
newest creations Blank and Tshediso
Kabulu, sharing this grant with fellow dancer Thami Majela, presents a joint
creation called Imvelo.
JOMBA! hosts its first major partnership with the Durban Art
Gallery on September 7. Titled ‘JOMBA!@ DAG’, this free event sees the DAG
spaces offer an alternate kind of challenge to dance-makers and for those
intrepid artists who work outside of the traditions of the proscenium arch.
Coinciding with the DAG Women’s Month exhibition titled She, this JOMBA! event has offered grants to three local female
dance makers to premier new work. Lorin Sookool, Jabu Siphika and Zinhle Nzama.
Usual festival favourites will include the Fringe and youth
fringe as well as a full programme of workshops and master classes by all of
the participating dancers and choreographers. For the full festival programme
and listing of workshops go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za and click on the JOMBA! page.
All workshops and classes are offered free of charge (dancer over 16yrs only)
but booking is essential.
Most performances take place at the Elizabeth Sneddon
Theatre at 19h30 (September 9 at 14h30) with the youth fringe at the Open Air
Theatre UKZN on September 2 at 14h00 and Durban Art Gallery September 7 at
18h00. Tickets at the Sneddon Theatre are R80 (R60 scholars, students, pensioners,
block booking of 10 or more). Booking through Computicket (or at venue from one
hour before).
Durban Art Gallery and Open Air Theatre are free events.
Like on Facebook (JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience) and
follow on Twitter (Twitter@Jomba_dance).
The 20th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience is under the
artistic direction and curatorship of Lliane Loots and is organised and hosted
and run by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and is
supported primarily by the eThekwini Municipality.
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