Public sector appointments

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The South African State

Theatre has appointed dancer, choreographer and freelance artist Mamela Nyamza as its Deputy Artistic Director. Nyamza was born and bred in Gugulethu township near Cape Town.

She completed her matric at Fezeka High School in 1993 and then enrolled at Technikon Pretoria, now Tshwane University of Technology, to obtain her National Diploma in Ballet.

Nyamza was resident dancer and choreographer for the theatre from 1997 to 2000. For the past three years she has sat on the Advisory Panel in Dance for the South African National Arts Council.

Nyamza is the first dance artist to be chosen as the featured artist at the 2018 National Arts Festival in Makhanda. Other accolades include the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance in 2011, Oprah Winfrey Women of the Year in 2013, and being among the Mail and Guardian's Top 200 Young South Africans for Arts and Culture in 2009.

Nyamza will be at the helm of one of South Africa's biggest dance festivals, the Dance Umbrella, as its curator when it relaunches in April 2019.

Nyamza's key role will be to provide support to the

Artistic Director creatively and administratively. She will be working closely with the Education Youth and Children Theatre department, which focuses on the development of young artists in the industry, initiating development programmes to support the main programme and ensure integration of the overall artistic programme.