HOPE - Loot's Love Song To Her Dancers

By Tammy Ballantyne

A grand piano slouches quietly downstage, lit by a solitary spotlight, as we enter the auditorium of the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre. Heavy rain spatters down onto cobblestones and pebbles in a video projection on the back wall. The atmosphere is calm and tranquil.

JOMBA! Opening Takes the Power Back

By Tammy Ballantyne

The message at last night’s opening of the 16^th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience was loud and clear: if artists in SA are to continue telling stories and to do so without censure, they have to take back the power and liberate themselves.

Lliane Loots, Artistic Director of the festival, cut a lonely but statuesque figure on the Elizabeth Sneddon stage as her war-cry rang out for artists to refuse to be silenced; for companies to work together to realise powerful dance works that carry messages of hope; to keep on finding the dialogue with society in the face of interminable funding cuts, hopeless civil servants and a general disrespect for artists.

Luyanda Sidiya - Fulfilling an Adventurous Spirit

By Adrienne Sichel (The Ar(t)chive)


Body's whiplash into motion sjamboked by internal rhythms. Then the same limbs and torsos shake the ground with one legged toyi toyi's.

Sitting serenely in the Vuyani Dance Theatre studio, scrutinising each movement at Dance Space in Newtown, is Luyanda Sidiya (31) the perpetrator of this surreptitious action. Political tyranny isn't exactly easy choreographic fodder but that hasn't stopped this dance maker from plunging into this murky territory.

16th annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience - Press Release

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, is proud to present its 16^th annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience from August 27 to September 7 at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre with one performance at artSpace (Durban) on 4 September. This year’s JOMBA! is an especially focused MSANZI edition of the festival with attention being given to supporting some of South Africa’s top dance companies and dance makers. In an unprecedented move by one of Africa’s biggest and most prestigious contemporary dance platforms, JOMBA! 2014 has decided to give support and offer recognition to 5 of South Africa’s most awarded and cutting edge dance companies with a special invites to Vuyani Dance Theatre (JHB), Moving Into Dance Mophatong (JHB), Flatfoot Dance Company (DBN), First Physical Theatre Company (Grahamstown) and the Floating Outfit Project (DBN).

Deeply Rooted Photos

Hope is still alive

By: Arno Wagenaar

The audience was left with the dancers’ silhouettes on stage as the curtains closed on a breath-taking performance of The Dance We Dance at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre last night. DEEPLY ROOTED DANCE THEATER (USA) performed a series of works from their repertoire, some featuring Durban’s own FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY, the result of a two-week collaboration between the companies.

INTRODANS Photos

Superstars slightly deflated

By: Sacha Knox

In a first for South Africa, Introdans (Holland) delivered a repertoire of technically brilliant neo-classical ballet performances to the stage of the 15th Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience. This repertoire consisted of: ‘Polish Pieces’ by Hans van Manen, ‘Evening Songs’ by Jiří Kylián, ‘Pas de Danse’ by Mats Ek, ‘Anaphase’ by Ohad Naharin, and ‘Sinfonia India’ by Nacho Duato. There was a real sense of excitement as the audience swelled into the Sneddon; smartly dressed couples, parents with children, groups of women beautifully adorned, their hair in extravagant swoops. I could not help but feel a sense of the magic of the ballet; nostalgia for some of my first theatre experiences, a smudge of that awe able to immediately dissipate stubborn-faced- frown for fancy dress.  

A Technical Pleasure

By: Caitlin Goulding

Holland’s Introdans performed to an almost sold out show last night at the JOMBA! 2013 Contemporary Dance festival, a clear indicator of the reputation which precedes them. As a contemporary dance group made up of highly trained classical dancers, Introdans displays precise technique and training, fusing elements of ballet  with contemporary dance, adding something a little different to this year’s festival line-up.

Highflying Superstars aim to please

By: Christiaan du Plessis

As brightly coloured bodies travelled across the stage as one entity, they brought endless smiles to the faces of the audience. The Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre last night was blessed with extraordinary talent; SUPERSTARS-INTRODANS (Holland) glided across the stage, performing gravity-defying moves. The neoclassical ballet influence makes for precision, immaculate technique and a clear narrative in performance. Their dance work is of the highest technical standard.

A Collaboration of Promise - United In Dance

By: Caitlin Goulding

The 15th JOMBA! festival will come to an end with the promise of something special: Chicago based dance company Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and Durban’s Flatfoot Dance Company will perform The Dance We Dance. 

Rooted in synergy

By: Princess Biyela

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater, founded in 1995 by dancers Kevin Iega Jeff and Gary Abbott, is a Chicago-based that works within an African-American dance aesthetic of contemporary dance by bringing together modern, classical and African-American traditions. In contrast Flatfoot dance company, whose work is often based on memory and history has developed a unique identity as a contemporary South African dance company.

Tea for Two and Another Chopsticks Story Photos

Individuality as a sharing entity

By: Christiaan du Plessis

From moving to their own beat, to moving to the beat as one entity, last night the Elizabeth Sneddon stage was blessed to host two brilliantly talented dancers, Misato Inoue and Felix Dumeril, in Another Chopsticks Story at the 2013 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience. 

One chopstick at a time

By: Arno Wagenaar

Tea  for Two, choreographed and performed by Misato Inoue and Felix Dumeril, had the audience giggling throughout the performance. With their effortless and delicate dance movements, music that sings to the ears and a witty love story, Inoue and Dumeril managed to entertain the audience while also allowing them insight into their identities.