(Above: Durban’s Flatfoot Dance Company with the Flatfoot Downie Dance Company)
The Sibikwa Arts Centre presents the first International BODY MOVES (When the soul speaks the Body Moves) Dance Festival for able bodied and disabled dancers to be held at the Sibikwa Arts Centre in Benoni from October 10 to 16, 2022.
The Festival challenges perceptions and expands understanding of dance and disability, promoting cultural exchange, collaboration and cooperation between African and European countries. The participation of the dancers and dance companies from Ireland, Italy, Flanders and the Netherlands has been made possible by the generous support of their respective European embassies. The South African dancers have been supported by the Gauteng Department of Sports, Arts and Culture, and Joseph Tebandeke, a choreographer from Uganda, has received financial assistance from the British Council and Tractus Art.
Four new works will be premiered at the Festival:
A collaboration between Moving into Dance disabled dancers from their Enable Through Dance programme and Sibikwa dancers from the Inclusive Creative Arts Programme (ICAP). This new dance piece yet untitled will be choreographed by Joseph Tebandeke from Uganda.
Unmute Dance Company from Cape Town in collaboration with MonkeyMind Company, a Flemish contemporary and Performance Company based in Ghent lead by choreographer Lisi Estaras.
A new duet will be created for Eva Eikhout, a Dutch dancer and TV presenter, to be partnered by Thapelo Kotlolo, a dancer from Sibikwa. Adriaan Luteijn from Introdans in the Netherlands will choreograph the duet.
The Italian company Officine di Creazione will premiere a new work and Sighile Hennessey from Ireland will make her debut solo performance.
The South African companies participating in the Body Moves Festival supported by the Department of Sports, Arts and Culture (Gauteng) are Flatfoot Dance Company from Durban, Sibikwa Arts Centre, and Moving into Dance. Unmute from Cape Town has received financial assistance from the General Representation of the Government of Flanders in South Africa.
This multi-faceted Festival includes workshops from October 10 to 14 at Sibikwa and open to all abled and disabled dancers. Choreographers from the Netherlands, Ireland and Italy will facilitate the international workshops. Unmute Dance Company will facilitate workshops in schools.
To promote conversations between academia, civil society organisations and artists about disability and dance a hybrid colloquium hosted at the Sibikwa Theatre and live streamed on the Sibikwa Arts Centre Facebook page will take place on Thursday October 13, 2022, from 18h00 to 19h30 and Saturday October 15, 2022, from 16h30 to 18h00.
The entire Festival including workshops and rehearsals will be filmed as part of a collaborative research project on Disability Dance and Citizenship in Africa, spearheaded by Dr Lliane Loots [Founder of Flatfoot Dance Company & Lecturer at KZN SA] and Prof Yvette Hutchinson [University Warwick UK].
All events will take place at the Sibikwa Arts Centre, Corner Liverpool and Bolton Rd Benoni.
Registration to participate in the workshops and colloquium is free on Quicket. Tickets are available on Quicket for the dance programme on October 15 and 16 from 14h00 t- 16h00, tickets bought on Quicket are R80 per person, for a group booking of 10 or more R70 per person, and R100 at the door.
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