Staff Reporter
Durban - The city’s sisters are doing it digitally as Jomba! goes online with sister cities, New Orleans and Chicago.
Both US cities will feature in the free online event presented by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal from August 25 to September 6.
In partnership with the US consulate, two remarkable US dance companies that have had a huge impact on Jomba! over the years will be featured - Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre from Chicago and Leslie Scott’s New Orleans Bodyart Dance Company, plus a host of other companies and dance-makers from South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya, Senegal, India, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and France.
“It's clear we'll not be able to deliver a festival in the same manner as previous years,” said artistic director Dr Lliane Loots. “Covid-19 has shifted the arts world very significantly"
To celebrate the event this year, it will go online and showcase dance and conversations about dance-making, offering a look back at some iconic dance works and dance-makers, but also exploring what dance can be in a digital space and a digital time.
The Jomba! Legacy (celebrating 21 years of the festival) programme features seven key dance-makers from all over the globe who have had a significant impact on the growth of Jomba!
India’s Anita Ratnam is featured in her challenging revision of Indian mythology.
Long-time guests Introdans from the Netherlands present a neo-classical work that never quite had a life on stage before the lockdowns.
The Jomba! Digital Edge has provided grants to nine Durban dance-makers to create short dance films that will premiere on the opening night and will be available to view on the Jomba! website for the duration of the festival.
Using devices from cellphones to cameras for filming, the dancers - Jabu Siphika, Kristi-Leigh Gresse, Leagan Peffer, Nomcebisi Moyikwa, Sandile Mkhize, Sifiso Kitsona Khumalo, Tegan Peacock, Tshediso Kabulu, and Zinhle Nzamawere - were asked to work loosely around the theme "Intimacies of Isolation".
Invited guests, US-based curators Lauren Warnecke, Peter Chu, Rachel Miller and Tara Aisha Willis, have put together a collection of “Dance on Screen” films in a one-hour package.
Four dance-makers - Vincent Mantsoe (South Africa/France), Jürg Koch (Switzerland), Themba Mbui (South Africa) and Ondiege Matthew (Kenya) - will host a conversation around their work and what it means to have made the shift to lockdown dance in a programme called Conversations Dance in a Digital Age.
Mbui and Matthew will premiere their new “lockdown” dance on this platform.
Festival photographer Val Adamson will share her work in an exhibition - 21 Years of Jomba! Through The Lens.
Digital Jomba! 2020 runs on the website, jomba.ukzn.ac.za
All platforms for 2020 are free of charge and a full programme is available through the website. For more information and updates on the programme visit Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Staff Reporter
The Independent on Saturday