BY LATOYA NEWMAN
THE annual Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience is set to stage at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre and KZNSA Gallery from today to September 3.
Tonight caught up with festival director, Lliane Loots, to find out more about what’s in store for this year’s event which will have a strong focus on women and the youth.
“There are all sorts of mandates for the festival and things that we try to achieve, but we try to really identify strong female choreographers, particularly from our continent,” she explained.
“We have a fantastic collaboration happening between Desiré Davids (South Africa), Gabi Saranouffi (Madagascar) and Edna Jaime (Mozambique). They are all performers in their own right and have come together against all odds, and with little funding, to create a work that will premiere at the festival. That piece is called Lady Lady.
“We’re also very happy to have a female choreographer from India, Preethi Athreya. She is making waves in India because she’s taking classical Indian dance, deconstructing it and using gesture and working toward stillness and silence and she’s made a magnificent solo, Across, not Over, for Indian kathak dancer, Vikram Iyengar, and they’re bringing that and we’re going to be bringing that particular piece to the KZNSA gallery. The relationship between the South/South countries is almost never funded, so for me, it’s a real coup to be able to bring them here.”
This year, Jomba! will be introducing a new platform called KZN on The Edge which, Loots said, will try to identify young, up-and-coming choreographers who need some assistance or development.
“The festival gives them a little bit of ground to promote their work. Some of the work is made by more established choreographers and other work is made by young up-and-coming choreographers.”
A major highlight at Jomba! will be the return of Vincent Mantsoe to the festival. “He’s got a new solo work, KonKoriti (a state of being), and this is the first performance that this solo is having on the African continent, right here at Jomba! He performed at the very first festival back in 1998. So to have someone of his stature, almost like the father of contemporary dance in this country, to have him back is just incredible. He’s the most gracious, most humble, most beautiful human being. His work is really significant, so I’m hoping people really take the opportunity to come out and see him.”
More than just what you see in the theatre, Jomba! is an all- encompassing fest that has a lot going on the ground in communities around Durban. “There’s a whole workshop programme which is absolutely free of charge, people just have to book. Literally every company that comes to Jomba! is offering a free two-hour workshop. Some of the workshops are choreographic, some are technical, but every artist who comes offers a workshop so that artists can interface with these choreographers.
“And then we have some longer-term programmes. So, for example, Austrian choreographer, Daniel Renner, has actually been in Durban for three weeks with break-dancers Bilal Bachir (Germany) and Maarten Krielen (Holland), doing work in Umlazi, Newlands, KwaMashu and Waterloo before the festival even started. So there’s a lot of exchanging going on.”
Jomba! also has a Youth Fringe where all their community- based dance programmes, about 23 this year, are coming to the festival to present their work. And although this is a contemporary dance festival, for the Youth Fringe festival goers can expect genres like traditional dance, pantsula dance, break dance and more.
Performances are from today to Saturday, and August 30 to September 4 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at 7.30pm, at the Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre on Sunday at 2pm and at KZNSA Gallery on Moonday at 6pm. Tickets are R60 or R45 (scholars/students/pensioners) for the Sneddon Theatre and bookings can be done through Computicket (or at venue one hour before). Tickets for the KZNSA Gallery are R50 (no concessions) and available at the venue only – from one hour before the performance . The Jomba! Youth Fringe at the Pieter Scholtz Open air Theatre is free. For details, see ?www.cca.ukzn.ac.za; Facebook (Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience) and Twitter (Twitter@Jomba_dance).