CELEBRATING THE JOYS OF JOMBA!
WHILE the widely acclaimed Alvin Ailey Company come to South Africa, but sidestep Durban on their tour, Durbanites are still in for huge international dance treats with a bumper edition of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts’s annual Jomba! festival.
Running from August 26 to September 6 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre and various other venues in Durban, this year’s event sees the popular contemporary dance festival reach its 17th edition – no small feat in the present arts funding climate.
Spearheading the line-up for 2015 is the Dutch dance company, Introdans, who travel all the way to the southern hemisphere to perform exclusively at the Jomba! festival. They will offer three performances only.
Introdans have a world reputation as one of the most cutting-edge and technically proficient neo-classical dance companies in Europe.
This ballet-based Dutch outfit brings a special programme that blends the old masters – such as Ivan Manen and Jiri Kylian – with more avant-garde, contemporary dancemakers, such as Paul Lightfoot and Mats Ek.
This will be a follow-up tour to Durban that began with Introdans’s debut at the Jomba! festival in 2013.
They will also be running a series of workshops and master classes while here this year. ties strong has always been the mandate of Jomba!, and this year the festival renews links with the Democratic Republic of Congo and the politically hard-hitting dance theatre work of Faustin Linyekula.
Also, Nigeria’s most awarded contemporary dancer, Adedayo Liadi, will join forces with a fellow Lagos-based dancer, Qudus Onikeku, to premiere their new duet at the festival.
The strong presence of these West African dance-makers is all the more poignant in the light of our own city’s need to uphold continental solidarity.
I am reminded of Ben Okri’s endless call to “honour cultural workers who forge real storytelling”.
Supporting the local dance community, Jomba! honours Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre’s 20th anniversary in 2015 by presenting Jay Pather’s most recent work, titled rites.
This work premiered at the Dance Umbrella earlier this year to much media controversy. so it will be sure to pull a big audience.
Pather’s iconic dance theatre style, that leans towards performance art and installation work, has won almost every commission and award possible in South Africa in recent years.
Jomba! also has open platforms for young and up-andcoming dance makers to offer their work for selection on the Jomba! Fringe and Jomba! Youth Fringe. For more info contact clarecraighead@live.co.za.