N’GILA (I AM HERE)

(Four FLATFOOT dancers - Sifiso Khumalo, Qhawe Ndimande, Jabu Siphika and Zinhle Nzama - partner up with their counterparts, Karl Hebbelman, Charles Phillips, Kevin Govender and Michaela. Pictured are the dancers in their performance of ‘cardiac output” at last year’s JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience. Pic by Val Adamson)

Flatfoot Dance Company presents “N’gila” (I am here) - an integrated dance performance with dancers with Down Syndrome.

Flatfoot Dance Company is proud to present its second annual integrated dance programme working with dancers with Down Syndrome. N’gila/I am here is choreography by Lliane Loots in collaboration with the eight dancers from Flatfoot Dance Company and the fondly referred to Flatfoot Downie Dance Company at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on November 20, 2018.

This landmark once-off performance will feature the unique partnering of the professional Flatfoot dancers with their Downie Dance Company members. This unique dance programme is unprecedented in South Africa and is a celebration of the power of dance to shift lives and to negotiate difference and inclusivity. Flatfoot celebrates its 15th anniversary this year and has - as one of its core values - the practice of dance (in education and in performance) as a tool towards what it calls “living democracy”. This dance programme celebrates community across the divides of race, gender and disability.

The programme began in August 2017 with the visit of Dutch choreographer Adriaan Luteijn of Introdans and his collaboration with Flatfoot. The company has continued this work over 2018 and this performance is the culmination of this year-long programme.

N’gila/I am here will not only move and delight audiences but will challenge the very core foundations of who we think can and should dance professionally. Four Flatfoot dancers (Sifiso Khumalo, Qhawe Ndimande, Jabu Siphika and Zinhle Nzama) partner up with their counterparts, Karl Hebbelman, Charles Phillips, Kevin Govender and Michaela Munro in a dance explosion that is an affirmation of faith, courage and the joy of dance.

Flatfoot’s award-winning choreographer, Lliane Loots says, “Creating this work has been a journey into discovering community and into discovering what it means to engage a firm and loving assertion of self and identity. All nine of us in the rehearsal room have been forced to look inward and to see that space between who we think we are and who we want to be, and I have been humbled every day by what these eight dancers bring to making dance.”

As a special offering the five Flatfoot Junior Company members will also perform Sesfikile! as the curtainraiser at this performance. This work won critical acclaim at the 2018 JOMBA! Fringe.

This looks to be one of the highlights on Durban’s dance calendar and this one-off performance is being offed as a fundraiser to help support the Flatfoot Down Syndrome Dance programme for 2019.

The performance takes place at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on November 20, 2018, at 18h30. Tickets R80 are limited. To pre-book tickets contact: flatfootdancecompany@gmail.com. Pre-booked tickets can be collected at the Sneddon box office from one hour before the start of show on November 20. Patrons should note that there are no card facilities available at the venue.