TAKING CHANCES/MAKING CHOICES

TAKING CHANCES/MAKING CHOICES

Mandisa Haarhoff

The 2010 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience has been a festival of collaborations. Foofwa d’ Imobilite’s The Making of Spectacles was a different and exciting collaboration with the audience in the selective creation of the dance-piece, influenced by Merce Cunningham’s ‘chance’ theory, using a democratic voting system rather than flipping a coin. 

Dramatic Finish

Dramatic Finish


Sli Hlengwa

The grand finale of JOMBA! 2010 called for something extraordinary.

ENTERING A FOREIGN LAND

ENTERING A FOREIGN LAND


Lisa Sterne

The transposition of a dance work from the rehearsal space to the stage is always interesting and often a magical process.

De-sacralising’ Spectacle

De-sacralising’ Spectacle


Samantha Daly

Burkinabé Filibert Tologo
in “The Making of Spectacles”
by Swiss choreographer Foofwa d'Imobilité
Picture by Cedric Vincensini

Last evening JOMBA! hosted Swiss choreographer, Foofwa d’Imobilité with his The Making of Spectacles (2008) . It directly involves the audience in the creation of the performance, which, Foofwa explains, serves as a way “to look at the psychology of spectator expectations, aesthetic desires, and participation in the making of a work of art... [And] ‘De-sacralising’ the grandeur of the spectacle”.

Democratic Dance Spectacle

Democratic Dance Spectacle

Chris Tobo

Last night I entered the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre to see “The Making of Spectacles”, by Swiss choreographer Foofwa d'Imobilité.

Making more than just a spectacle

Making more than just a spectacle


Yeshica Naidoo

Foofwa d’Imobilité, born Frédéric Gafner, took the conventions of dance theatre and the notion of the fourth wall and smashed them to smithereens last night in his “The Making of Spectacles”. 

DEMOCRACY CAN BE TRICKY

DEMOCRACY CAN BE TRICKY


Sli Hlengwa

The JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience really switched gears last night as it was turned on its head last by Foofwa d’ Imobilite’.

Breaking and, making a spectacle, of spectacles.

Breaking and, making a spectacle, of spectacles.


Lisa Sterne

“The Making of Spectacles” by the Swiss Foofwa d’ Imobilite dance company is aimed at being a collaborative process between the audience and the performers.

JOMBA! KHULUMA ISSUE TWO (BLACK AND WHITE)

 The CCA Website has changed location and the images are now only available on our archive site.

JOMBA! KHULUMA ISSUE TWO (BLACK AND WHITE) as a PDF

http://dbnweb2.ukzn.ac.za/cca/images/jomba/Jomba2010/images/KhulumaImages/JombaKhulumaISSUE2.pdf

Kenji is King

Kenji is King


Yeshica Naidoo

Reunion Island’s Cedric Saidou, known as ‘Kenji’ is in South Africa and has got every dance lover thanking the Lords for ‘Haine Terre Rieur’, and if they’re not, well they should be.

DEATH OF A TRADITION

DEATH OF A TRADITION

Lauren Jones

It’s not every day that a man in a shiny, gold suit welcomes you into a theatre space by handing you a cheaply printed pamphlet advertising overly-expensive funeral home policies.

KRAZY FOR KENJI

KRAZY FOR KENJI


Lauren Jones
A bare stage. Two bodies. Dimly lit, they crouch with their backs to the audience. Power and strength emanate from every angle, even in their stillness…. but then… they begin to move.

A LIFE AND DEATH SITUATION

A LIFE AND DEATH SITUATION


Lisa Sterne

There was talk of death after Sello Pesa’s site specific installation performance “Lime Light on Rites” which dealt with funeral policies in South Africa.

This performance left the audience wanting to talk about facts and rituals surrounding death in this country. As a 22 year old middle class white South African I have not given funeral policies much consideration, as death is not something I face regularly. Pesa explained that this is not the case for him and many poor communities.

Lebo Mashile and Moving Into Dance Weave Their Magic

Lebo Mashile and Moving Into Dance Weave Their Magic


Sli Hlengwa

With choreographic genius and spellbinding spoken word pulling at the threads of moral and social and political understandings of living in South Africa “Threads” reached deep into the psyche of the captivated JOMBA! Audiences.

PUSHING THEMSELVES TO THE LIMIT

PUSHING THEMSELVES TO THE LIMIT

Yeshica Naidoo

Something new is emerging … a birthing … and you definitely do not want to miss this historic moment,

THREADS PHOTOS BY VAL ADAMSON

THREADS
PHOTOS BY VAL ADAMSON

“Threads” Moving Into Dance Mophatong (Johannesburg)

Concept: Sylvia ‘Magogo' Glasser and Lebo Mashile

Poetry created by: Lebo Mashile

Choreographer: Sylvia ‘Magogo' Glasser

“Threads”

Associate Choreographers: Muzi Shili and Sonia Radebe

Company: Moving into Dance Mophatong

Performers: Lebo Mashile, Muzi Shili, Sonia Radebe, Fana Tshabalala, Thulane Chauke, Thandi Tshabalala, Thembekile Setiabi and Themba Mbuli

Musical director: Nhlanhla Mahlangu

Musical Collage: Thunderdrums and special compositions by Nhlanhla Mahlangu and Leon Erasmus

Sound Engineer: Leon Erasmus

Costumes Design: Veronica Sham

Lighting and Set design: Declan Randal

Artistic Advisor: Gregory Vuyani Maqoma

Coach for Lebo Mashile: Jerry Mofokeng

Company Manager: Themba Nkabinde

THE TIES THAT BIND

THE TIES THAT BIND


Lauren Jones

Mother to daughter. Father to son. Man to man. Woman to woman. Husband to wife. Child to parent. Friend to friend. Teacher to student. These are the ties that bind, the threads that connect us to every aspect of the lives we live.

NOT TOO MUCH BREAK IN THE DANCE, YES?

NOT TOO MUCH BREAK IN THE DANCE, YES?

Samantha Daly

I was lucky enough to be granted access to Netherlands choreographer Daniel Renner’s rehearsal in which I gained insight into the manner in which this acclaimed choreographer works.

ALL WRAPPED UP …

ALL WRAPPED UP …


Yeshica Naidoo

“Threads” can be described as ‘verbal dance’ or a ‘physical poem’ which brings together the spoken text and the language of the body in the most thought provoking stunning choreography I have ever seen. 

WAVES OF INSIGHT AND INSPIRATION

WAVES OF INSIGHT AND INSPIRATION


Samantha Daly

There are few things in this world which leave me speechless, but Johannesburg-based Moving into Dance Mophatong’s (MIDM) collaboration with celebrated poet Lebo Mashile at this year's JOMBA! Did just that! 

JOMBA! KHULUMA: THE HARD COPY FIRST EDITION

 The CCA Website has changed location and the document is only available on our archive site.

JOMBA! KHULUMA ISSUE ONE as a PDF COLOUR

http://dbnweb2.ukzn.ac.za/cca/images/jomba/Jomba2010/images/KhulumaImage/JOMBAKhulumaISSUE1.pdf

Surreal Site-specific

Surreal Site-Specific

Chris Tobo
It’s advisable to not get too close to the stage at South African dance provocateur Sello Pesa’s latest site-specific work. It might be dangerous.

UNION OF CONTEMPORARY AND HIP-HOP

UNION OF CONTEMPORARY AND HIP-HOP


Lisa Sterne

“Haine Terre Rieur” choreographed by Reunion Island’s Cedric Saidou (Kenji ) ended with a partial standing ovation, in appreciation of the sure athletic skill, acrobatic contortions, sustained strength, precision and stylization of dance technique of the two male performers Shany Arzeux and Didier Boutianaa.

21st CENTURY META-NARRATIVE OF THE FEMALE BODY

21st CENTURY META-NARRATIVE OF THE FEMALE BODY 

Chris Tobo

The 12th annual JOMBA! Dance festival kicked off with a bang at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre with three performances from Durban choreographers Desire Davids, Sifiso Majola and Vusi Makanya, who all feature as part of the New Works Programme.

The evening began with a thought-provoking address by JOMBA! Artistic Director Lliane Loots, whose speech set the provocative tone for the subsequent performances.

First up was Desire Davids’ intriguingly titled work “Who is This Beneath This My Skin”, a dance theatre experience which turned out to be as much about putting on layers as stripping them away. 

Welcome to the House of Gorgeous

Welcome to the House of Gorgeous

Mandisa Haarhoff

Breathtakingly provocative performances with astounding installations took over the night as a variety of artists, musicians, dancers and designers explored the “The Body Politic” at Friday night's RED EYE JOMBA! Audiences and performance artists from across the country found their way to Durban's biggest party of the year at the Durban Art Gallery (DAG). It certainly was all it promised to be, critically brave and entertainingly engaging.

DRENCHED IN FABULOSITY

DRENCHED IN FABULOSITY

Chris Tobo

By the time I arrive at the Durban Art Gallery I’m in a mild huff because I’m late for one of the biggest multi-media arts collaborative projects events of the year “Red Eye”. But it’s not just any edition of “Red Eye”; it’s the most ambitious one yet: collaboration with the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience.

BBoyz Break Barriers

BBoyz Break Barriers

PEELING AWAY IDENTITIES

 PEELING AWAY IDENTITIES

Yeshika  Naidoo

JOMBA! 2010 is upon us and boy did it start off with a bang.

JUMPING INTO JOMBA

JUMPING INTO JOMBA

Lisa Sterne

As a JOMBA! “virgin”, I, like many other dance enthusiasts, eagerly awaited the opening of the 12th edition of the second biggest dance festival in South Africa.

Beneath the Robes - Under the Beliefs

JOMBA!NEW WORKS
"God's Unspoken Words"
Choreographed by Vusi Makanya
Dancers: Vusi Makanya and Dusi Dance Company (KwaMashu), guests and trainees
Photo by Val Adamson

Paying homage to the Past and the Present for the Future

JOMBA!NEW WORKS
"I Thank You"
Choreographed by Sifiso Majola
Dancers:Sifiso Majola and Siyabulela Mbambaza
Photo by Val Adamson

Shedding Personal Layers ...

JOMBA!NEW WORKS
"Who is This Beneath my Skin"

Choreographed and performed by Desire Davids

Photo by Val Adamson

SPRING HAS SPRUNG, AND SO HAS JOMBA!

SPRING HAS SPRUNG, AND SO HAS JOMBA!

Lauren Jones

The arrival of September not only heralded the much-anticipated arrival of some sun to Durban’s shores but the arrival of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience to the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre.
Audience members waited in anticipation for the opening address by Jomba’s artistic director and celebrated choreographer,

In Praise of the Holy Place

JOMBA! 2010 Artistic Director Lliane Loots's Opening Night Speech

It is always my great joy and delight to stand before you at the opening of the Centre for Creative Arts’s JOMBA! festival. It is always a personal opportunity for me to be reminded of what my theatre guru Jerzy Grotowski called the ‘great service of theatre’ - of being reminded that as (what Grotowski called) ‘holy’ theatre makers and theatre practitioners our greatest ‘gift’ is to make our work as if it were a service to our community.

More About The Blog

JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience Dance/Performance Writing Residency


Dance Writing Residency

JOMBA! 2010 is proud to be hosting veteran journalist Adrienne Sichel, winner of the 2009 Alan Kirkland Soga Lifetime Achiever award presented by Mondi Shanduka Newsprint and the Newspaper Association of South Africa. Sichel has a reputation for being a fearless defender of artistic and press freedoms in South Africa and has a lifetime reputation of fighting for coverage for dance and theatre in South Africa. Her decades of arts journalism inspires and provokes! Over the 12 days of the festival Sichel will mentor seven young writers in a process of learning how to decode, read and write about performance.

Watch out for the CCA online reviews and the two JOMBA! Khuluma print editions!

JOMBA! RED EYE

JOMBA! RED EYE


Durban: 3 September 2010

JOMBA!, which is principally funded by The National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund, joins forces, for the first time, with the innovative and cutting-edge concept of RED EYE at the Durban Art Gallery. Renowned for showcasing performance art, fashion, dance, music and everything in between, this special JOMBA! edition of RED EYE promises to dazzle audiences. Featuring almost a hundred performers and based around the notion of "The Body Politic", artists from all genres of performance and art making have been commissioned and invited to generate work that explores both the heightened body political but also the more personal and intimate body.

Choreographers, dancers, fashion designers, DJs, fine artists, tattoo artists, performance-based artists, bands and one or two rather edgy individuals all come together in the unique vision of curator David Gouldie who has promised audiences a night of site specific interactive performances that they will never forget.

Audiences will arrive to a blocked off Smith Street with the "I heart market"

12th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

12th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

Durban: 1 to 12 September 2010

12th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

Durban: 1 to 12 September 2010 For 12 days Durban will play host to a dazzling 12th edition of the international contemporary dance festival, JOMBA! One of four annual festivals hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Creative Arts, the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience has become synonymous with cutting-edge dance theatre, and with principle funding from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund capacitating the festival, this bumper event contains a programme of broad scope and appeal. 

On the international front, JOMBA! 2010 presents dance works from the Netherlands, Switzerland and Reunion Island, alongside wonderful offerings from both Durban and nationally-based dance companies.

'Encounters' by Adedayo M Liadi and Lliane Loots