In a cultural landscape still fighting for
true inclusion, the 4th Flatfoot Access Festival stands as a compelling model
for how dance can lead the way. (Review by Marcia Mzindle)
“This is not a
charity case but art,” says Artistic Director of Flatfoot Dance Company, Dr
Lliane Loots, in her opening address as we gather for the 4th Flatfoot Access
Festival at the Stable Theatre, Durban, on Friday, December 5, 2025.
Her words are encouraging, honouring and celebratory - perfect for a pioneering programme that positions dance as a powerful vehicle for shifting lives and negotiating difference and inclusivity.
The Flatfoot Access Festival challenges traditional notions of virtuosity, expanding our understanding of who belongs on stage and why. In doing so, it sets a valuable precedent for what inclusive choreography can aspire to: complexity, rigour and uncompromised artistic excellence.
Watching dancers with disabilities and without disabilities perform together reveals the full breadth of what embodied expression can hold. Their performances are beautiful, poetic, daring and deeply challenging. It is a courageous and generous act of art-making.
We also honour and celebrate, in absentia, Amanuel Solomon and Samuel Wubet of Kaitim Dance Company from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Though they could not be with us tonight, we had looked forward to the performance they would have brought to the festival, and we hope for the near-future opportunities to experience their performances.
Tonight, we unite for four special works, opening with We Are Rising, inspired by Maya Angelou’s Still I Rise, performed by Flatfoot dancers (Sifiso Khumalo, Siseko Duba, Jabu Siphika, Sbonga Ndlovu and Ndumiso “Digga” Dube) and the Flatfoot Access Panthers (Kelly Louw, Danielle Spangenberg, Chloe Malcomess, Maddie Tooley, Kyle Myers and Thomas Ras). Choreographed by Lliane Loots in collaboration with the dancers, this piece becomes not only a language of the body, but a profound declaration of what it means to rise together.
This is followed by Web of Uncertainty, choreographed by Sifiso Khumalo and performed by Zinhle Nzama, Bheki Khotsholo and Siseko Duba. The work evokes the sensation of being trapped in an invisible web. Sudden shifts in direction and fragmented pathways mirror the disorientation of searching for hope without clarity. The choreography resolves in suspended gestures and hesitant pauses, embodying the fragile balance between confusion and the yearning for direction.
Being Free, choreographed by Jabu Siphika and performed by Ndumiso “Digga” Dube and Sbonga Ndlovu, emphasises physical autonomy and the ability to move, express and exist without imposed limits. It is about reclaiming the body as a site of empowerment rather than restriction. Freedom of the body is directly tied to inner strength and imagination.
Hold My Heart, performed by dancers from Flatfoot and Flatfoot Downie Dance Company (Charles Phillips, Kevin Govender, Karl Hebbelmann, Michaela Munro and Sofia Jameson), pays tribute to the longevity and depth of artistic partnership. It acknowledges the shared journey, growth and trust built over nearly a decade. The choreography centres on intimacy and relational bonds, showing how human ties shift, deepen and transform over time through mirrored movements, lifts and embraces. Movement becomes a metaphor for the fluidity of connection—sometimes tender, sometimes dynamic, always changing.
Across these four works runs an undeniable thread of friendship, human connection and hope. What unfolded on stage tonight was far more than performance. It was community in motion. It was friendship made visible. It was the courage to reach across difference and find a shared rhythm. As the dancers took their final bow, it felt clear that this festival is not just an event but a home—one that continues to grow, welcome and inspire. The choreographies challenge conventional ideas of what bodies can or cannot do, reframing disability not as limitation but as a different form of embodied possibility. They urge audiences to expand their definitions of ability.
The four works showcased not only the talent of the dancers but also the depth of commitment behind Flatfoot’s long-standing access programme. In a cultural landscape still fighting for true inclusion, the 4th Flatfoot Access Festival stands as a compelling model for how dance can lead the way. – Marcia Mzindle
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