1 Mamela Nyamza is this year’s Jomba! Legacy Artist whose cutting-edge work spans two decades. Born in Gugulethu and attending the Zama ballet school from the age of 8, she graduated from Tshwane University Technology in ballet in 1994, before a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey International School of Dance in New York. Her work radically deconstructs the expectations of who qualifies to be a ballerina. Her original Hatched in 2007 unapologetically trampled on the norms and standards of the dance classics, winning her global acclaim. Her new work, Hatched Ensemble, brings together seven classically trained dancers from different racial and gender backgrounds to challenge norms again. August 29 and 30 at 7.30pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Nyamza will talk about the piece after the second show.
2 Uganda’s Joseph Tebandeke uses his body to create his own dictionary of ability that encompasses local and global dance traditions. He choreographs beyond traditional dancers to create movements that re-label disability. In his latest offering, Time Machine: Unveiling the Inner Strength, he delves into the complicated relationship between him and his crutches. Double bill with...
3 The Unmute Dance Theatre is a company with mixed abilities/disabilities that uses physical theatre and dance to advocate for accessibility and inclusion of people with disabilities. Andile Vellem, Nadine Mckenzie and Yaseen Manuel perform Timelapse, a performance that looks at how memories move with us through time and space and how they affect us now and in the future. August 31 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at 7.30pm.
4 Introdans, from the Netherlands, runs one of the most inventive integrated dance programmes under choreographer Adriaan Luteijn. Here Luteijn choreographs Hub Club Special, especially for the 25th anniversary of Jomba! September 1 at 7.30pm, September 2 at 2.30pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
5 De Stilte in the Netherlands is a dance company that focuses solely on developing productions for children. Choreographer Jack Timmermans brings his Flying Cow which explores how three children play together, trying to outdo one another, taking one another’s things, teasing, sharing and consenting. September 1 at 2.30pm, September 2 at 10am at the Stable Theatre, 115 Johannes Nkosi (Alice) Street.
6 Jay Pather’s Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre brings a new company collaboration called surface tension (lower case correct) in which six performers make sense of an onslaught of surfaces that assail the body every day. September 2 at 7pm in the UKZN Jubilee Hall. Limited seating.
7 The Jomba! Youth Open Horizons programme aims to open up dance to younger audiences, with a number of performances that are witty and enthralling. Previously called the Youth Fringe, Jomba! put out a call for youth dancers this year and these are their offerings. It features 10 companies from KwaMashu, Clermont, Chatsworth, Musgrave, Pietermaritzburg and rural Embo in an afternoon of school performances. Entry free. September 3 at 2pm at the Stable Theatre.
8 South African artist Marcia Mzindle performs Into Emdaka. As a young South African woman, a performance maker, and currently on a journey training to be a sangoma, the work is a negotiation of the three shifting identities. September 7 at 6pm. Catch the work digitally at www.youtube.com/Jomba_Dance.
9 Ramanenjana is created by Simona Deaconescu, from Romania, and Gaby Saranouffi, from Madagascar. It looks at a dance that made history, the Ramenenjana, in Malagasay, which means something that made you strong. The dancers playfully explore this phenomenon. September 2 at St Anne’s Theatre, Hilton at 7pm; September 4 at 7pm at the Stable Theatre.
10 Mozambican choreographer and dancer Pak Ndjamena brings us Deus Nos Acudi/ God Help Us, a powerful work that interrogates contemporary African male identity. September 5 at 7.30pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
11 German choreographer Helge Letonja and his Of Curious Nature dance company will perform Un-Zeit which explores hypnotic images in a foggy space and how the dancers swiftly fall out of form as their perception of time frays. This is a double bill with…
12 Germany’s Hannah Ma offers new work Invasion(s) which explores the act of violently entering a (political, physical or biological) territory. The performers become armies, nations, territories, cells, political ideas and micro organisms in an audio visual display that reminds us of patriarchal violence. September 6 and 7 at 7.30pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Talk to Helge Letonja and Hanna Ma after the second performance.
13 Jomba! Digital Edge is a mini dance film festival. Earlier this year, submissions were put out for short or long dance films and six dance movies were chosen for screening for free at the festival. See them at www.youtube.com/Jomba_Dance. The movies will be available until September 17. The winning movie will be announced at Jomba Open Horizons online on September 3 at 6pm.
14 Finland’s Virva Talonen performs in a double bill. In the first act is her solo work Nothing Personal, which she created in 2018 when she returned to her hometown, spending time in the places she grew up. She created a dance where the living breathing body became home itself. And…
15 Durban’s FlatFoot Dance company dance collaborates with Talonen in Portable Home, a work created last year and part of her Portable Home project working with groups of dancers across the world ‒ in Finland, Tokyo, Palestine and now in Durban, looking at the meaning of the word “home”. September 8 at 7.30pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
16 South African dancer Lorin Sookool looks at the decolonisation of our bodies in Woza Wenties. Using her body as a previously colonised state, she sets out to understand her erasure, and looks to the resurrection of the lost aspects of her being. September 8 and 9 at 6pm. Howard College Dome. Limited seating.
17 Ace Dance and Music from Birmingham bring two shows to Jomba! The Night Before Tomorrow, choreographed by Serge Aimé Coulibaly from Burkino Faso, is a metaphorical last night where people try to do their last dance before an uncertain tomorrow. Also Mana ‒ The Power Within, from choreographer Sekwato Mantsoe, looks at the sacred, ritualistic and shamanic power of the word “mana”. September 9 at 7.30pm, September 10 at 2.30pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon.
18 Jomba! partners with the Panaroma festival in Brazil, sharing two dance films Elegbara and Eda. These will be screened online on September 10 at 6pm. Watch them for free at www.youtube.com/Jomba_Dance
19 Playing before a number of uMlazi and KwaMashu schools is Game Theory by Swiss choreographer Joshua Manten. Before dance became an art, it was a game, and the games we like the best are often the ones we shouldn’t be playing.
20 This year’s Forging Futures dialogue involves a conversation with many of the festival's Dutch visitors. The theme looks at travel, touring beyond South Africa and what is available to artists keen to get their work to broader audiences. September 2 from noon to 2pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Free but booking essential from [email protected].
21 Jomba!’s Film Residency sees videographer Ivan Barros and dancer and choreographer Pak Ndjamena sharing their share their experience in producing dance films. Free screening at the Stable Theatre on September 3 at 5pm.
22 Most of the top dancers performing in Jomba! will hold dance workshops. These are open to dancers 16 years and older, and are free but do have to be booked two days in advance. Places are limited. Workshops will be in the dance studio of UKZN’s Department of Drama and Performance Studies. See the programme for the full list of workshops and email [email protected] to book.
23 New to Jomba! is a lighting workshop by Finnish lighting designer Nanni Vapaavouri. Titled light as material, it will explore with dancers and choreographers on stage using various materials and movements in a bid to encourage participants to experiment freely with lighting. September 4 from 11am to 3pm. Booking above.
24 If you missed them in Durban, some of the highlights of Jomba! move to the Market Theatre in Johannesburg from September 13-16.
25 Celebrating Jomba!’s 25th anniversary is the launch of a book, Archiving History and Memory, which traces the legacy of the festival. Edited by Tammy Ballantyne Webber and with pictures by Val Adamson, it is a poetic and user-friendly archive of the festival's history. It launches on September 5 at 6pm at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Free entrance.
The Independent on Saturday