CAT’S BACK IN THE MIDLANDS!

FCat Simoni takes a break from performing on one of the five star Seabourn cruise liners. She’s also a regular at London’s Ritz, Dorchester, Lanesborough and Savoy hotels. ormer Midlands’ songbird, Cat Simoni, is flying in for a one night only performance at the Highgate Wine Cellar on Saturday, February 18.

Now based in Kent in the United Kingdom, Simoni has become a fixture at London’s The Ritz, The Lanesborough, The Dorchester and The Savoy and has a contract with the five star Seabourn cruise line company, to perform as a solo piano vocalist.

Her gigs in the British capital have taken her full circle to the start of her career in the entertainment business.

After graduating with a BSc in Durban, Simoni moved to London as a young woman. It was there that she decided to throw caution to the wind and develop her singing and musical talents. It was a life-changing decision.

For the next 10 years she tickled the ivories on the Steinways and Bechsteins of London’s five star venues and exclusive private clubs.

With her fabulous voice and dazzling piano virtuosity, Simoni’s extraordinary repertoire extends from the great West End and Broadway shows, including Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber showstoppers, to the works of Cole Porter, Rogers and Hammerstein and

Durban’s award-winning contemporary dance company, Flatfoot, will be performing their latest work, Home, at the Theatre at St Anne’s Diocesan College in Hilton at 6.30pm on Thursday, February 2.

Choreographed by Finnish contemporary dancer, writer and choreographer, Virva Talonen, the show features the talents of dancers, Jabu Siphika, Sbonga Ndlovu, Sifiso Khumalo, Siseko Duba, Zinhle Nzama and Ndumiso ‘Digga’ Dube.

Portable Home is a contemporary dance art project which delves into the concept of home and its various definitions.

Talonen says that home can be a practical or concrete place or refer to a state of mind or a bodily sensation, adding that most often the definition of home is in constant flux.

“Working far away from home, where the land, people, society and surroundings are unfamiliar, can be a challenge,” she says. “You miss the language, family, climate, food, sounds, routines and many other things that become visible while being absent.

“For me, home is defined as a sense of belonging. My home is 16 000 kilometers north of Durban. What do I carry with me in order to feel like home?

“My choreographic work with the dancers in Flatfoot Dance Company is based on a specific dance improvisation. I don’t give ready-made steps or forms, instead we work with the movements initiating from each dancer.

“The Flatfoot dancers’ dedication, courage and sensitivity towards this work amazes me.

“Portable Home in Durban is built up by sharing the individual memories, movements and insights of home. It is a dance about those we hold close, loneliness, liminal spaces, mercy and about that very moment when you will be lifted up high in the air and the only thing you can do is trust.”

To book to see the performance, go to https://forms.office.com/r/SbctR62Sfh