JOMBA!’s open platforms confirm that dance is flourishing in KZN

By Lliane Loots

SIYAKHULA Dance Project

Every year JOMBA! offers two distinct open platforms for the promotion of developing dance and dancers. The first of which, the JOMBA! Youth Fringe, was held on Sunday the 31^st August in UKZN’s Open Air Theatre. As I sat in this rather sublime outdoor venue, a type of ancient Greek amphitheatre surrounded by the lush green of Durban’s tropical vegetation, I was hit with how right this space was for such an event. Surrounded by over 800 KZN based young dancers, their teachers/choreographers and their families, I felt like I was part of something really significant.

EXCITING DANCE PROGRAMME AT JOMBA! 2011

EXCITING DANCE PROGRAMME AT JOMBA! 2011

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts and its celebrated annual contemporary dance platform, JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, invites dance-lovers to explore this year’s 11 day festival which opens on 31 August and runs until 11 September. JOMBA! now in its 13^th year, and supported by the National Lottery Distribution Fund, has dance offerings which encompass the very best of local and international dancers and dance companies. (full programme on www.cca.ukzn.ac.za)