Submissions for proposals to be considered for the fourth instalment of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s (UKZN) Jomba! Masihambisane Contemporary Dance Conference are now opened.
UKZN will continue accepting submissions of no more than 400 words until 4pm on Friday, 5 April.
READ: Durban's Flatfoot Dance Company marks 21st anniversary with Jazz-infused performance
It is important for the public to be mindful that Masihambisane is not a festival, but an online dialogue that can be joined via Zoom.
The Jomba! Festival is a separate segment under the Jomba! umbrella body. Participation in the conversations can also be undertaken on the Jomba! website, Facebook page as well as their YouTube channel.
The conversations will be taking place on 22, 23 and 24 May. Jomba! curator and dialogues chairperson Lliane Loots described the event as more of a colloquial than a conference.
She said:
Dancer and choreographer Moeketsi Koena who has taught dance in the USA, Belgium and the Netherlands is one of this year’s keynote speakers.
He will be sharing this task with Soweto-born choreographer and former artistic director at the Moving into Dance company Vincent Mantsoe, who founded the Association Noa Company in France back in 2005.
The arts have always been a culturally powered medium of education, and thus the theme for this year is Return to the Drum.
This instrument has been a part of Africa's musicality and dance culture for centuries. The theme will decipher how traditions, cultures, memory, hybridity and contested identities manifest in contemporary dance.
Loots added:
The panel of speakers also includes Thobile Maphanga (UKZN, SA), David Thatanelo April (UP, SA), Sarahleigh Castelyn (UEL, UK), Yvette Hutchison (Warwick Uni, UK), Clare Craighead (DUT, SA). Mbongeni Mtshali (UCT, SA) and Gift Marovatsanga (UKZN, SA).
READ: Disability Awareness Month | Sibikwa Arts Centre celebrates diversity with dance festival
Loots confirmed that the dialogue is also recorded and loaded into their archives on the website, for the benefit of those who are unable to join the conversation or would life to refer back at a later date.
Full details of the criteria and how to submit can be obtained on here.