(Pics: Val Adamson)
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(Above: Open Horizons - Uxinzelelo by BreeH Cele (Pietermaritzburg, South Africa) 2024)
JOMBA! Contemporary
Dance festival welcomes Live, Digital, and Youth Dance Submissions
The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts has announced that applications are now open for the 2025 JOMBA! OPEN HORIZONS Platforms, three distinct performance opportunities for dance-makers at the 27th annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, taking place from August 26 to September 7, 2025, in Durban.
These platforms have become an important part of JOMBA!’s commitment to encourage innovation, access, and diversity in African contemporary dance. They offer space for both emerging and established dance-makers across live performance, screen-based dance work, and youth performance.
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The LIVE OPEN HORIZONS platform, hosted at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre is a curated showcase for choreographers aged 16 and older to submit short live works (6–8 minutes) for a professionally-supported stage presentation at the Festival.
Six works will be selected by an independent jury, with one choreographer receiving a R2,000 “Pick of the Platform” award on the night of performance.
JOMBA! continues its
ground-breaking commitment to screen dance through the DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS
platform inviting artists to submit 3–8-minute screen dance works that will be
curated and streamed on the JOMBA! YouTube Channel during the festival. A jury
will select 8–10 films with one exceptional work receiving a R3,000 jury prize.
The much-loved YOUTH OPEN HORIZONS, will take place at the Stable Theatre in Durban. Designed as a non-competitive celebration, this platform invites dancers under the age of 16 - across all dance styles - to take part in a day of shared performance, learning, and community connection. From pantsula and Zulu traditional dance to hip-hop, ballet, contemporary and more, this is a space to honour the next generation of dancers. The festival has capacity for 12 groups.
Artistic Director of JOMBA!, Lliane Loots, says: “The OPEN HORIZONS platforms remain central to our vision to provide creative inclusion and artistic risk-taking. These are not just showcases, they are vital incubators for the voices, visions, and movement languages that will shape the future of dance.”
Entry forms for all three platforms:
2025 JOMBA! Live Open Horizons application link (closes on July 15, 2025):
2025 JOMBA! Digital Open Horizons application link (closes on July 4, 2025):
2025 JOMBA! YOUTH Open Horizons link (June 20, 2025):
Details here: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za