The 2012 Eric Shabalala Dance Champion Award

Local dancer, choreographer and dance educator Sifiso Kitsona Khumalo has been announced as the recipient of this year’s “Eric Shabalala Dance Champion Award” which was established by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) and the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, in memory and recognition of dancer, choreographer and dance educator Eric Shabalala. 

Sifiso Kitsona Khumalo 

Caesar, interrupted

From back: Sbusiso Gantsa, Sandile Mkhize and Mxolisi Nkomonde in Caesar, interrupted

Photos: Val Adamson

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Satire, Symbolism and Social Comment
By: Caitlin Perkins

Jay Pather’s Caesar, interrupted is anything but tedious. His stage is a kaleidoscope of images, colours and symbols; a plethora of unusual and innovative props litter the stage.

Somewhere, out there, life was screaming

The cast of Somewhere, out there, life was screaming

Photos: Val Adamson

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First published in The Star Tonight
Mzansi Moves

By: Adrienne Sichel

When dance companies from two different countries collaborate across geographical and cultural lines there are two possible outcomes. Either an imposed mish-mish or an organically sound creation.

ABA(KA)NTU

The cast of Aba(ka)ntu

Photos: Val Adamson

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Finding our own voices
By: Thobe Molefe

Aba(ka)ntu is deeply rooted in finding one’s identity. The stage is set up to symbolise a very sacred space as Musa Hlatshwayo carefully, cautiously enters it.

JOMBA! FRINGE 2012

The Floor Assassins in Alive Through the Music
Photo: Val Adamson

Read more for reviews by our student writers in residence...

SKWATTA

Vincent Mantsoe in SKWATTA
Photo: Val Adamson 

Read more for reviews by our student writers-in-residence

Henriette & Matisse

“Henriette & Matisse”

Photo: Val Adamson

Read more for reviews by our student writers-in-residence

Opening Night Speech by Lliane Loots

29 August 2012

On the front line again

Karl Marx believed that revolutions push history forward. For each civil and social revolt, a society pushed closer and closer to his imagined socialist paradise. Neo-Marxist Antonio Gramsci, corrected Marx, and said revolutions are not always necessary, all we have to do, to shift our lived conditions, is to stop consenting to the dominant discourses of capital. We have to stop buying the lies packaged and sold to us by governments eager for votes and corporations eager for financial power. In short, to uses Noam Chomsky’s phrase, we have to fight the political and social ‘manufacturing of consent’ that allows us to put up with things as they are and accept dire situations as ‘normal’.

JOMBA CITY (31 AUG 2012) reviews

Photos by: Val Adamson

Read more for three reviews by our student writers-in-residence

A Spring (two) matter (performed 29 August)

A Spring (two) matter 

A Spring (two) matter

Photo: Val Adamson

Read more for three reviews by our student writers-in-residence

JOMBA! CITY 2012 – General Press Release

VIEW JOMBA! CITY PROGRAMME ONLINE

JOMBA! City
31 August: 6pm
Beachfront Skate Park

Following on from the 2011 success of taking dance and art to the city centre, the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience hosts its second collaboration with eThekwini Municipality with a soulful seaside street party on the 31 August at the Beach front Skate Park (next to Minitown). Commencing at 6pm this mix of dance, live bands, markets, food and art in the park, is family friendly and a beautiful way of taking back Durban’s beach front for the arts! One of the few events taking place outside of the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, the JOMBA! Citysite-specific programme is one of the many highlights in this year’s JOMBA! festival, which is supported with principal funding by the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund.

Surf, sea, skateboarders whizzing by, and the night of a full moon; the sound of a cello against the rip of the wave, a hip-hop beat as dancers move to the ancient rhythms of the tides. Breakdancers shift between light and video while a kathak storyteller spins into madness. JOMBA! City promises performances that shake our foundations; beautiful, edgy and very, very eThekwini!

14th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

29 August - 9 September 2012

PROGRAMME DAILY SCHEDULE 

WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

14th JOMBA! CONTEMPORARY DANCE EXPERIENCE 2012 – GENERAL PRESS RELEASE 

With principal support from the National Lottery Distribution Trust Fund the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal) presents the 14th edition of its celebrated annual contemporary dance platform, the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience between 29th August and 9th September. This year’s festival invites dance lovers and the public to explore the packed 12 days of exceptional performances, workshops led by leading choreographers, and opportunities to engage some of the world’s top dance makers as they “Talk Dance” after various performances. JOMBA! fiercely holds onto its status as one of the few remaining dedicated spaces in South Africa where dance and choreography remain nurtured and supported, and continues to offer world class dance theatre that challenges audiences; asking that they come to the myriad festival offerings (performances, workshops and classes) with the intention to be shocked, surprised, entertained and above all, to celebrate a beautiful and critical art form.

"more..more..more..future" reviews

more ...more …more …future has its final Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience performance tonight (September 7 at 7.30pm), in the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, then moves to New Dance 2011, in Johannesburg, at the Dance Factory (September 9 and 10 at 8pm).

JOMBA! Fringe reviews

The Politics of Relationships

Julia Wilson

A common thread between the first three works of Jomba! Fringe 2011 was that the structure of the works was overly complicated.

Woman's Solo Project Pictures

Thobeka "TeeKay" Quvane in "Skin"