The arts are split into a variety of avenues with one being more popular than the other. The more dominant streams are film, music and television with the disciplines of theatre, the culinary arts and visual arts assuming the periphery.
A particularly hard art to be involved in is dance. Dance comes with a shelf life attached to it with any professional prospects ending at age 30 and then if you’re lucky and skilled enough, perhaps a move to choreography.
Audiences are also not as drawn to dance as they once were, with attendance at ballets nowhere near what it used to be. Feeling the counts between beats as dancers breathe and move in unison, carefully executing intricate choreography, feeling every stomp of the ground as feet pound the wooden panels of a stage as sweat flies off the bodies of the artists.
This cannot be replicated easily, and it has become of immense importance to have more dance shows and festivals. Jomba Dance Festival showcases artists with a passion and love for contemporary dance.
This is an annual festival hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN). Jomba-to jump in isiZulu- is one of the most prestigious dance events in Africa, showcasing the best of the continent and beyond.
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For 13 days, Durban will be the epicenter of contemporary dance, with performances, workshops, panel discussions and virtual screen dances from artists from Mozambique, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Madagascar, Uganda, Romania, Germany, UK, Brazil and South Africa.
The theme of this 25th edition is ‘(in)tangible heritages’, which invites festival goers to explore how dance reflects and challenges our personal and political histories and identities.
In 1996, the University of KwaZulu Natal’s then Dean Michael Chapman started the Centre for Creative Arts which was set up as a literary program and the director was an Adrian Donker who was given the job and he set up both the literature and poetry festivals at the university.
“By some good fortune, he was placed in the drama department and had an office opposite mine. We got to know each other and then one day over tea, I asked what is with all this literature and where is the dance. Without pausing he said if I arrange the festival, he will find me the money. I knew very little about curation and it started out as sort of a dare,” festival curator Lilane Loots says, recounting the early stages of this festival.
The future of the festival is bright as the people driving the vision have their hearts set on seeing this festival reach new heights with every passing iteration.
“When you create something, people always want it to get bigger. My wish and hope for Jomba is that it can sustain itself as this amazing annual two-week festival with all the satellite projects as we also have a colloquium that happens earlier in the year and all sorts of satellite projects that run through the Centre for Creative Arts at UKZN. We have a very exciting partnership with the Market Theater, and they have asked us to present a smaller version of the festival which we’re calling Jomba at The Market.”
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Jomba is a curated festival but there are aspects that involve people applying to be a part of certain festivities.
“For this year our 25th anniversary, we worked on this theme or provocation of ‘intangible heritages’ and so that theme becomes one of the guiding principles for who is invited and curated,” she says.
Funding is always a difficult thing for an artistic undertaking of any kind and so as much as they would like to invite many companies from around the continent, the festival budget is limited and most of the companies who are invited must find a way of funding their appearance.
It, however, remains a highly regarded gathering and Lilane believes there is one crucial thing that sets it apart from other dance festivals.
“The thing that sets it apart is that it has survived, and I think survival has meant many things. The technical team and I, the publicists, the city and the dancers have not been afraid to embrace change. For example, when we hit Covid-19 it would have been easy to say we aren’t having a festival and so after lots of discussions and a little red wine perhaps, we made the decision to go online and still create a space for artists to showcase their work.”
They embrace innovation and taking risks which helps in the way they curate the art at Jomba.
There is a string of talents you can expect to see with some of the best and brightest from South Africa. Some of the highlights of this year's Jomba Contemporary Dance Experience include the cross-cultural collaborations between local and international artists. For instance, hannahmadance, a German company, partnered with Thobile Maphanga and Jabu Siphika, two talented dancers from South Africa, to create a piece that explores the themes of identity and belonging. Another example is the joint work of Flatfoot Dance Company and Virva Talonen, a Finnish choreographer, who blended their styles and perspectives to produce a captivating performance. The festival has also showcased the works of Unmute Dance Theatre and KZN, as well as the recipients of the Jomba On The Edge grant, Marcia Mzindle and Lorin Sookool, who are emerging voices in the contemporary dance scene.
Speaking on behalf of Flatfoot Dance Company, dancer Sifiso Khumalo speaks highly of the opportunity this gathering gives to the culture of dance.
“It is a beautiful platform and an international platform in which every contemporary dance artist wants to share their work in. It is a home for local dance practitioners, it is a big festival. It is always nice to be part of Jomba as Flatfoot as Jomba encourages the development of young dancers in KZN which Flatfoot works closely around. Part of our outreach program we will be performing at the Stable Theatre,” Sifiso says.
“I am hoping the audience will walk away having had so much fun watching our structured improvisation work. It has been a very good process, one filled with respect and understanding. It has been a welcoming space and allowing for growth with each passing day.”
Flatfoot will unveil a collaboration with a Finish artist and choreographer in Verva Talonan.
“It is a project that started with us in 2022. Verva has done this before with other artists from Japan and Palestine and now with us. It is called Portable Home and so having done it last year it was a good idea to perform it in a larger international space like Jomba.”
It is sure to be a memorable moment for dance and this festival will continue to be a beacon for this much needed form of expression. The festival will run from August 29 to September 10 at the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) as well as the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre and other venues. Visit jomba.ukzn.ac.za for more information.
