Jomba! marks 20 years in dance

THE annual Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience which celebrates its 20th year with the theme, Legacy is set to stage at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, Open Air Theatre and the Durban Art Gallery from August 28 to September 9.

This year’s line-up includes work by India’s Anita Ratnam, Madagascar’s Gaby Saranouffi and Haja Saranouffi, Spain’s Aïda Colmenero Dïaz, Switzerland’s Loannis Mandafounis, South Africa’s Moeketsi Koena, Moving into Dance Mophatong, Musa Hlatshwayo, the Flatfoot Dance Company and more.

A variety of workshops are also open to the public at various venues around Durban.

As part of the workshops, award-winning Durban dancer and choreographer, Hlatshwayo will facilitate a session which focuses on growing the lexicon of dance language that includes an encounter with both traditional and African contemporary dance styles.

“It’s contemporary dance with the angle of using my personal and cultural background, how I create a dance language, how I use it and how I merge it with theatre so it’s influenced by my background and the surroundings I see and translating that into contemporary dance language,” he said.

Hlatshwayo is the director at Mhayise Productions, his own initiative as well as his own training programme, The Movement Laboratory.

He has appeared with various local and international dance and theatre companies including Flatfoot Dance Company (where he began his dance training), Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company, Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre and Lebohang Dance.

He was recently awarded the Standard Bank Young Artist for Dance for 2018.

“I’m appreciative of the Standard Bank award I received and the support from the National Arts Fest for the platform it provides. Jomba! is one of the festivals which has definitely contributed to my growth. The first choreography piece I worked on was from Jomba! I’ve grown as a performer and got to network with various producers and choreographers.”

In terms of his piece, Udodana, Hlatshwayo seeks to explore the black male body, its associated and constructed identity and its placement in society: “It speaks about subject matters dear to my heart, ideas around the many kinds of identities, our behaviour, who we are and where we stand in terms of our society, like the violence against women and children.”

As for the cast of Udodana, Hlatshwayo said they can be seen as multiskilled dynamic performers. “Most of them I’ve trained and some I’ve met along the way as I mentor. It’s exciting to see that growth.”

For the full festival programme, visit www.cca.ukzn. ac.za and click on the JOMBA! page.