A Right to Quality Education: Is your child denied this right?

Media Release

A Right to Quality Education:  Is your child denied this right?

Action in Autism is hosting a meeting bringing the Department of Education, including directorate, parents and autistic people together in a dialogue session to air view and discuss challenges with a view to ensuring that every autistic child is able to access quality education.  

All parents, educators, managers of schools and autistic people who feel displaced inside or outside of the schooling system are invited to bring their voices to this meeting which takes place at the George Campbell School Hall from 2pm to 4pm on on Saturday 15 October.

 Action in Autism, a non-profit organisation, has been actively lobbying for a right to education for autistic children.  This advocacy work led to the creation of the Autism Action Plan for the province of KwaZulu Natal.  This was a three year plan to ensure that autistic children were included in the education system.  However there are still too many children being denied an education or receiving education that is substandard in South Africa public schools.   Action in Autism sees the impact on the family and the community when a child is left with no stimulation at home.  The organisation meets with parents and autistic learners to facilitate accessing a school.   Many families still struggle to receive fair and equal treatment within the schooling system, this despite the South African constitution that grants all children a right to education. 

Action in Autism, based in Sydenham, houses an early learning intervention centre for children ages 2 to 6 years, and provides free support, advice, research and information to people with autism and their families. A free monthly diagnostic clinic is offered to families who do not have access to medical aid, and Action in Autism runs bi-annual training workshops, hosted by a team of professionals, that aims to share information and transfer skills and techniques for communication to parents and professionals.

Entry to this meeting is free, and participants are invited to bring a plate of snacks to share. Please RSVP to 031 207 4858, or email info@actioninautism.org.za. 

For more information about Action in Autism and to attend the dialogue session with the Department of Education, please call 031 207 4858 or email info@actioninautism.org.za.

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Further information:

Kirsten Miller

ACTION IN AUTISM

031 207 4858/083 7774468

info@actioninautism.org.za

Artists for Autism – Comedy Night to raise funds for Action in Autism

Artists for Autism – Comedy Night to raise funds for Action in Autism

A bunch of local comedians will gather in force as Artists for Autism in a jam-packed comedy night to help raise funds for Action in Autism  on Friday, October 14 at 7pm at the George Campbell School Hall .

Action in Autism, which provides early intervention for 16 children under the age of 6 at their Centre in Sydenham, will host the Comedy Night with twelve local comedians featuring Analakshmi and Neil Green as the headline acts.  Comedians include Troy Tesla, SbuMnyandu, Mo Vawda, Kamz, Mathew, Mfundo, David M, Darryl, Xolani and Vanessa – who all bring their unique blend of humour to the stage for an evening of laughter and fun.

 “Action in Autism, besides running early interventions, also provides a free walk-in resource and support service, a free diagnostic clinic, and regular support group meetings for families of people with autism,” explains Chairperson Liza Aziz. “Many organisations such as ours are working with people with special needs and have no support whatsoever from government and we rely heavily on the goodwill of civil society for funds –  so we urge everyone needing some light relief to come join us for some fun and help us support people with autism. A special thanks to these artists who have agreed to help us with this fundraiser too!”

Snacks and refreshments will be on sale. All proceeds go to ensuring the continuation of Action in Autism’s services to the autistic community.

George Campbell High is at 261 Sylvester Ntuli Road, Durban. Tickets for the Artists for Autism Comedy Night are R120, and are available from the Action in Autism office and Computicket. For more information about Action in Autism and to secure your tickets, call 031 207 4858 or email info@actioninautism.org.za.

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Uvo Lwamaciko Ethu (Expression of our creatives) - at The African Art Centre - Florida Rd Durban

Uvo Lwamaciko Ethu (Expression of our creatives)

The African Art Centre announces its hosting of the Uvo Lwamaciko Ethu Exhibition (Expression of our Creatives) in commemoration of South Africa’s National Heritage day. Observed annually on 24 September, this public holiday encourages South Africans to celebrate their cultures, diversity of beliefs and traditions and to embrace our multicultural society. The group of 10 exhibition participants is comprised of both emerging and established artists and crafters who have visually interpreted and celebrated Heritage day through a collection of two and three dimensional works. The participant exhibitors are: Welcome Danca (Painting on canvas), Zakhele Hlabisa (Painting on canvas), Jabulani Cele (Painting on canvas),  Sabastien Pillay (Pen and ink on paper), Lindelani Ngwenya (Softwire sculpture), Innocent Hlela (Hardwire sculpture), Bhekinkosi Gumbi (Wood sculpture), Angeline Masuku (Ilala basketry), Lobolile Ximba (Beaded sculptural dolls) and Xolile Ndlovu (Embroidered textiles).

The various forms of art are indicative of our culture.  Many of these traditions have been passed down from one generation to the next.  The Centre has over the past 55 years not just fostered the development of our local traditional art forms but has also promoted the production of it.  The value of indigenous craft is celebrated on a daily basis when someone purchases a piece of art or an international visitor recognises the mastery and beauty created by local hands.  This exhibition provides a shared platform for artists and crafters to showcase traditional and modern contemporary visual art and craft trends.  By presenting multiple genres of visual work, the Centre is celebrating the multiple creative voices of our artists and crafters and is encouraging preservation of our heritage.

Lobolile Ximba (1953) is a household name in the beaded doll making tradition of KwaZulu Natal; she is a master doll maker who has passed her skills to numerous doll beaders. Her sculptural dolls are clothed in bright beaded regalia; each outfit signifies either a young girl, unmarried woman or a married woman. Lobolile’s mastery of the doll making tradition is clearly depicted by her almost life size 1 metre high doll sculpture clad in colourful beadwork, isidwaba skirt and an adorable pair of canvas takkies.

Bhekinkosi Gumbi (1971) is a skilled self-taught wood-carving artist from Nongoma, in northern KwaZulu Natal. His painted sculptures are carved out of Umganu wood and he enjoys making figurines of political figures, celebrities, musicians and sports personalities. The most intriguing element on his work is his ability to capture striking realistic appearances combined with caricatured facial features and an expression of emotion and personality through gestures.

Welcome Danca (1978) grew up in Port Shepstone but currently lives in Durban. His artistic talent was spotted while in high school where he sketched in pencil and charcoal and when the late renowned artist, Trevor Makhoba took the young artist under his wing and mentored him. Welcome paints in oil and acrylic paint on canvas where he explores personal memories and everyday life scenes. This artist has lately been producing oil paintings executed in rich painterly marks in a semi-abstract technique through which he makes commentary on social issues. 

Lindelani Ngwenya (1975) learnt wood-carving and drawing skills at the age of 10, by watching his father who was a wood-carver. This artist has worked in etching and lithograph mediums as well but has become widely known for his woven copper wire sculptures. He created a unique wire-weaving technique by meticulously plaiting two pieces of copper wire into a long strip which is thereafter woven into 3 dimensional shapes. His current work is woven in the same technique but in colourful telephone wire instead. His netted telephone wire figurines often portray individuals in expressive poses such as singing, dancing, and playing musical instruments.

Angeline Masuku (1967) is a widely respected master Ilala weaver in and outside South Africa. She learnt the grass weaving method from her aunt, Khawulina Gcwensa; by 1984 Angeline was already designing her own Ilala woven baskets. Angeline is known for producing cylindrical shaped Ilala grass baskets depicting geometric and figurative patterns.  What has set this crafter apart was her ability to master the traditional Ilala weaving technique and being able to skillfully transform her products into contemporary vessels which are sought after by public and private collectors and interior decorators.

Xolile Ndlovu (1981) grew up in eMzinyathi Area and currently lives with her son in Richmond Farm also located outside Durban. Xolile was part of an African Art Centre embroidery skills development project called ‘Ntokozo’ group where a group of women narrated colourful stories on embroidered textiles. In this project the participating women were taught new skills of embroidery, beading and appliqué; this group produced the beaded South African flags which now hang at the Constitutional Court of South Africa and the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban. Xolile became an outstanding member of the group as she continued to transpose everyday life scenes and historical symbols onto embroidered textile wall hangings. Her work has become a powerful tool of sharing personal stories with the public, her textiles are collected and treasured not only by local clientele but also by an increasing number of international art lovers.

Innocent Hlela (1971) currently lives in Ntuzuma Township outside Durban; he has been part of the Durban art scene for a number of years. He recalls his artistic journey to have begun at the age of 11 when he produced toy cars from salvaged wooden tomato crates and selling them to people in his community.  In the early 1990s, he joined the Velobala Art Group, an African Art Centre outreach project where he was recognised as one of the highest achieving students. This self-motivated artist is highly expressive in mosaic, sculpture and telephone wire, more recently specialising in 3-dimensional telephone wire figurines neatly woven in the hardwire weaving technique.

Jabulani Cele (1981) is an emerging artist residing in Inanda Township outside Durban. He mainly works in oil and acrylic on canvas and his subject matter is concerned with his surroundings and township lifestyles.

Zakhele Hlabisa (1987) is from Mtubatuba area in KwaZulu Natal. He describes himself as a natural born conceptual artist when it comes to portraiture. He initially participated in the iSimangaliso art programme and later joined the Velobala Saturday Art Classes conducted by the African Art Centre. This artist works in many mediums but is commonly known for his acrylic paintings executed in an almost realistic technique. His work depicts ordinary individuals engaging in mundane but emotion-provoking situations.

Sabastien Pillay (1995) is the youngest participant in the group; this will be the third time that he showcases work at the African Art Centre. Sabastien has worked in his unique signature style of detailed pen and ink drawings on paper. His almost illustrative works challenge traditional composition principles and bring an exciting fresh contemporary twist to the exhibition. 

For more details contact the African Art Centre on 031 312 3804/5 or email
africanartcentre@afri-art.co.za.

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ISEA2018 INTERSECTIONS - 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art - for Durban

Media Release

ISEA2018 INTERSECTIONS - art, science and technology for empowerment and change
The 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art to be held in Durban, South Africa

The world’s most prominent nomadic international arts and technology event - the International Symposium on Electronic Art - ISEA2018 is coming to Durban in 2018. This was announced at the opening of the 3rd Annual DUT DigiFest  in Durban this weekend. This is the first time in the 24 years of annual festivals around the world ISEA will be taking place on African soil.

 Durban University of Technology’s Faculty of Arts and Design, The Trinity Session, eThekwini Municipality and Durban KwaZulu-Natal Convention Bureau will be hosting this prestigious symposium in July 2018, and they are collectively looking at how the DUT DigiFest could be used as an important catalyst for the development of creative content, thought and ideas for the event.

 Following the international announcement of Durban as the host for ISEA2018 in Hong Kong earlier in 2016, September 9 and 10 saw the local announcement of the plans to come at the DUT DigiFest. This was coupled with a coming together of interested parties from different disciplines, industries, research and government to exchange ideas on what a locally relevant program and direction for ISEA2018 could be.

As partners in ISEA2018, DUT’s deputy vice chancellor Prof Thandi Gwele and Executive Dean of Arts and Design and DigiFest Festival director Dr René Alicia Smith welcomed ISEA2018. 

Head of International and Governance Relations of Ethekwini Municipality, Eric Apelgren expressed the municipality’s enthusiasm and support for this prestigious event and how ISEA2018 and DigiFest can manifest new opportunities for Durban and its people.

Marcus Neustetter, co-director of The Trinity Session and executive director of ISEA2018 presented the opportunity of locally relevant, engaged and cross-disciplinary projects for empowerment and affecting change in Durban and South Africa. “In this sense, the theme INTERSECTIONS of the symposium, events and exhibitions in 2018 positions creative technological innovation as an activist engagement into public space and public practice,” he explained. “Creative collaboration between artists, artisans, designers, technologists, entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists and inventors will take place in a context where survival is the most basic instigator for solutions. In such a scenario, technological developments follow and support these solutions. In addition, the role of the artist is essential in providing opportunities to build new and exciting interactions between people and place.”

 A formal call for expressions of interest for ISEA2018 will be made in early 2017. The committee also welcomes engagement from interested parties – for further information contact the committee via Isea2018@onair.co.za

http://www.isea-web.org/2016/02/isea2018/

Durban University of Technology’s third annual DigiFest (#DUTDigifest - Arts and Design Digital Festival) is set for 9 and 10 September.

Media Release

3rd #DUTDigifest

(Arts and Design Digital Festival)

9 – 10 September 2016

Durban University of Technology’s third annual DigiFest is set for 9 and 10 September. 

The University’s City Campus will open its doors to the public for a series of live art activations, exhibitions, innovations, panel discussions, workshops, music, theatre, poetry, comedy, dance, food and more.

The opening night, Friday 9 September, includes a DUT Alumni fundraising event for the ‘Missing Middle’ campaign - a funding support initiative for students. It also features live performance by the award-winning a-capella trio The Soil, and includes the launch of the 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art, (#ISEA2018), which takes place in Durban in 2018 - the first time on African soil. 

Several DUT academic programmes will participate in this year’s Digifest, alongside external partners and organisations working with digital technologies.  

Interior Design students present an exhibition of flat-pack lazer-cut chair prototypes, designed and manufactured in conjunction with Durban Art Deco Society and Makerspace Durban. 

Fine Art students research, map, manufacture and present a series of objects exclusively for the Digifest entitled no-tech to lo-tech. 

Bending Blackboards, an eLearning collection, includes work from practitioners interfacing with art, science and technology

The Journalism programme will present photo essays and short documentaries. Written, video and audio coverage of the DigiFest will be streamed on the Journalismiziko online publication and online radio.

The Rise of the OXX project returns in 2016 as an inter-departmental, collaborative project including Fashion & Textiles, Graphic Design, Jewellery Design and Interior Design departments in an exhibition and fashion show of innovation and inspiration.

In an exhibition entitled Perception, Jewellery Design students explore the interaction of their jewellery with the world, through a visual and audio installation. 

The Photography programme are working with 3D mapping artists to exhibit a selection of images, which will bring new life to parts of the campus.

Graphic Design students will exhibit portfolios that embrace a wide range of digital media for print or online publications, websites, online apps, animation, advertising, stationery, and other forms of visual communication. 

Live performance features at the sixth annual DUT Children’s Theatre Festival, a parallel event, which takes place at the Courtyard Theatre from 8 to 11 September. DigiFest will stage a satellite production from this festival of Looking for a Leader, and dance students from the Drama department will stage two dance performances.

Video Voyeur screenings will showcase the best music videos and dramas produced by Video Technology students.

The Language Practice department introduces #DigiWordPlay using humour, performance and mime to bring to life the meanings and interpretations of words within and across different languages. 

The Translation and Interpreting Practice programme will stage an installation to collect, translate and upload words in the theme of art, design and technology to the isiZulu online dictionary hosted by Oxford Living Dictionaries. 

Other highlights include:

Award-winning Digital artist and DUT Fashion Lecturer Nirma Madhoo-Chipps presents her latest work Labtayt Sulci. This series shot partially in Iceland is inspired by the NASA exploration of Enceladus, one of Jupiter’s moons, and extends the notion of the digital fashioned body - real or simulated; human or exobiological.

An exciting installation from the Maker Space, along with international contributors, will be capturing sound clips from the local space, converting these into a visual and three dimensional form and then converting that into a sculptural object and artwork.

Live art from Resoborg, Sketch Wars and others will adorn the campus walls. 

Performances by some top South African Artists, including The Soil, Felix Laband, Raheem Kemet, Easy Freak, DJ Lag, DJ Merlon, Strage and Nkululeko Dlamini. 

PechaKucha talk series returns on the subject of digital art, design and innovation. The speakers are selected from various background and this punchy talk format allows 20 x 20 second slides to guide the speakers. 

Talkfest hosts a number of workshops and panel discussions, with speakers from around South Africa, on various subjects from social innovation, art & data, 3D printing, digital design and social media. 

031 Entertainment presents local comedians for a short showcase and Art for Humanity will host a Poetry Session. 

DigiFest takes place at the DUT City Campus, Corner of Dr Pixley Ka Seme (formerly known as West Street) and Julius Nyerere (formerly known as Warwick Avenue) on Friday, 09 September from 12pm to 10pm, and on Saturday, September 10th from 10am to 10pm. All are welcome and entrance is free. The full programme will be released online on August 30th.

This year’s theme, “We are such stuff”, is taken from William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, in commemoration of the 400 year anniversary of his death. #‎Shakespeare400

DUT DigiFest is presented by the Faculty of Arts and Design at Durban University of Technology, with support from the Ethekwini Municipality.  

For more information go to  www.digifest.dut.ac.za

Instagram: dutdigifest_

Twitter: @DigitalArtFest 

Facebook: DUTDigiFest 

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Media and Publicity: sharlene@versfeld.co.za / +27 (0) 31 811 5628 / +27 (0) 83 326 3235

Programme Information: andiled@dut.ac.za / +27 (0)31 373 6455

September 2, 1016

Musa Hlatshwayo receives Eric Shabalala Contemporary Dance Champion Award at JOMBA!

Media Release

Musa Hlatshwayo receives Eric Shabalala Contemporary Dance Champion Award at JOMBA!

The Centre for Creative Arts and the Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience Dance Festival honoured  acclaimed Durban dancer, choreographer and dance educator Musa Hlatshwayo, with the Eric Shabalala Dance Champion Award last night.

‘The JOMBA! Eric Shabalala Dance Champion Award, now in its 6th year, is in honour of the memory of Eric Mshengu Shabalala who tragically passed away in 2011; he was a local dancer, choreographer, teacher and one of the founding dancers of the Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre in Durban,” says Artistic Director of JOMBA! Lliane Loots. “ In a fitting tribute, the Centre for Creative Arts and Jomba! each year honour KwaZulu-Natal’s stalwart dancers and dance teachers – in the name of Eric Shabalala.”

“This award is given not only in recognitions of performance or choreographic excellence, but also more profoundly and more importantly it is given in recognition of dance practitioners who have worked tirelessly to help grow a culture of dance and dance training in Durban – who have supported the growth of dance as an art form at both community and regional level,” she says.

“The selection of award winners for this prize, by the Jomba! Committee, goes beyond just the selection of the best dancer but of those who also make the biggest social contribution to their communities. It looks at those who go beyond the call of duty, often with little or no funding, to put KZN dancers on the international map. This is the spirit of Eric Shabalala that we see living and continuing in Musa’s work.”

Musa is a multi-award winning young choreographer, performer, educator, voice artist with experience in the performing arts and community development. He completed BA  in Media and Communications as well as Drama and Performance Studies at the UKZN.  He trained with the Flatfoot Student company for 2 years and received an opportunity to go and train at the Copenhagen School of Modern Dance before returning to UKZN where he received his BA Honours and a Dance in Education postgraduate certificate which he completed while working as one of the founding members of Flatfoot Dance Company in 2003. He has also worked with the Fantastic Fish Dance Company, Portia Mashigo Dance Theatre, Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre, Phenduka Dance Theatre, First Physical Theatre Company, the Handsfree Puppetry Company, the Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company and a list of other independent theatre directors, choreographers and producers.

Hlatshwayo is passionate about the role of contemporary dance in a developing communities and the role it plays in fostering dialogue across socio-political divides. He has been seen in various educational institutions locally and abroad as a tutor, guest lecturer, course coordinator and external examiner in the arts departments. 

The festival continues this weekend closing off tonight (Saturday) and Sunday at 7.30pm at the Sneddon Theatre with the African premiere of acclaimed dancer/ choreograper Vincent Mantsoe’s work “KonKoriti’, who will also perform this piece at the Wits Theatre on September 8.

JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience is organised by the Centre for Creative Arts (UKZN) with valuable support from the eThekwini Municipality. 

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Caption to pic: David Wa Maahlamela, Director of the Centre for Creative Arts hands over the Eric Shabalala Dance Champion Award to Musa Hlatswayo.

Vincent Mantsoe concludes JOMBA! Next Stop The Wits Theatre

Vincent Mantsoe concludes JOMBA! Next Stop The Wits Theatre

After premiering with sold out houses and standing ovations in Germany and his African premiere receiving standing ovations at the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience in Durban this weekend, dancer and choreographer South African born Vincent S.K Mantsoe brings his new solo work KonKoriti home to Johannesburg, with a one night only performance at The Wits Theatre on 8 September 2016 at 8:00pm.

Like much of this award-winning choreographer’s work, KonKoriti has a spiritual core, made tangible in physical expression. It is a return to Mantsoe’ original solo format, with him at helm of the choreography, costuming and light design. The music is by Kayhan Kalhor with The Brooklyn Rider and The Master Drummers of Burundi. KonKoriti is described as; ‘a state of being’ a tireless pursuit, for self-righteousness. , inspired by the physicality, spirituality, power, pride of a “person”.

Mantsoe premiered the work in Germany in June this year, and had his African premiere at JOMBA! 2016 this Saturday. Now in collaboration with The Wits Theatre, and with support from Institut Francais South Africa (IFAS), Mantsoe concludes his South African visit with this special performance of KonKoriti at The Wits Theatre.

“It is with great honour and excitement that I will be performing here. The Wits Theatre has been my stage professionally since I started dancing. First presenting my work during the FNB Dance Umbrella, then winning most of my awards there and premiering my work together with Moving into Dance. Beautiful, exciting memories. So I am looking forward to presenting my new work at Wits,” said Mantsoe.

Based in France, Mantsoe is acclaimed for his unique choreographic style, which has evolved on his early Afro-fusion dance training under the mentorship Sylvia “Magogo” Glasser and Moving into Dance and draws on African, Contemporary and Asian movements. His work is strongly focused on preserving cultures, particularly his own South African culture, in the 21st century. He has been commissioned to perform around the world, garnered multiple dance awards, and has been involved in residencies and collaborations in Australia, Canada, the USA, Denmark, Japan, Germany, South Korea, France and South Africa.

“I was honoured that Vincent wanted to perform his new solo show at the Wits Theatre. He is a dancer and choreographer who I have enormous respect for and staging his work at the theatre is an affirmation of the theatre being a place of innovation and excellence, “said Gita Pather: Director of Wits Theatre.

Tickets are R 200:00 and can be purchased through www.webtickets.co.za or R230:00 at the door.

Facebook: Wits Theatre

Twitter: @Witstheatre1

https://www.wits.ac.za/witstheatre

MEDIA QUERIES:

BUZ PUBLICITY

BRIDGET VAN OERLE

011 673 0264 / 477 0923

info@buz.co.za / buz@buz.co.za

JOMBA! Opening Night Address by Lliane Loots

ADDRESS BY LLIANE LOOTS - Artistic Director of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience and lecturer in UKZN’s Drama and Performance Studies Programme at the opening of the 18th edition of the festival.

The 18th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience hosted by the University of KwaZulu-Natal (College of Humanities) and its Centre for Creative Arts opened last night (24 August 2016). Artistic Director of the festival and lecturer in UKZN’s Drama and Performance Studies Programme gave the opening address. Below follows an edited version of it:

This has been an historic year for South Africa. We have had local elections that have begun to pointedly shift our political landscape. We have the continued emergence of defiant youth who are demanding what a liberation struggle’s Freedom Charter promised them – that the doors of learning should be open. We are realising how hard it is to find a new public protector who is not tainted, we have a public broadcaster making contested paternal decisions for us about what is deemed appropriate for us watch ... and we also had four beautiful young women stand silently to remember Khwezi and to remind our nation, 22 years into democracy, of a legacy of gender violence that sees 1 in 3 women face violent sexual abuse.

And in the background, in the academy, in cultural communities, in the political left of left, and with the trendy new elites, I hear the phrase “decolonise” – a kind of catch-word of post-colonial struggles. Reading Ngûgî wa Thiong’o in the mid-1980s was for me a political turning point and so when I hear “decolonise” being thrown out by the various political and struggle elites I own to a certain nostalgia of remembering a time of clear right and wrong.

As an artist and cultural activist, I have begun to wonder what “decolonise” means to me, to dance and indeed to a festival like JOMBA! It is best, of course, to go back to Ngûgî himself whose book did not just speak about “decolonising” but more specifically about “decolonising the mind”.

Wa Thiong’o wrote about what he called the biggest ‘cultural weapon’ wielded and daily unleashed by imperialism against an artistic collective defiance. This cultural weapon of the imperialist – for want of a better explanation, those who seek to rule by creating dependency - is what he called the “cultural bomb”.

The after effect of this Imperialist “cultural bomb” is to annihilate a people’s belief in their names, in their language, in their environment, in their heritage of struggle, in their unity, in their capacities, and ultimately in themselves. This cultural bomb, once exploded, makes us see our past as a wasteland of non-achievement and it makes us want to distance ourselves from this history of what seems local and thus like nothing worthwhile – it makes us want to identify with that which is furthest removed from ourselves.

This “cultural bomb” is not a bomb that goes off loudly; it does not fall from the sky from a foreign plane; it is more a quiet, silent amorphous bomb that goes off in fits and starts from within until, one day we wake up and find that we no longer know who we are, we no longer know what to think or feel and so we allow the machinations of international corporate and globalised capital tells us how to look, think, feel and love. We no longer have real memory and history because the endlessly re-written political and cultural version of who we are, are sold to us like truth. Our minds have been colonised as we have been taught to dream only of owning and having and no longer do we seek the discipline of being and doing.

And as I tonight claim Kenya’s Ngûgî as one of my political and cultural ancestors, I hope that he would look favourably on me extending his thoughts beyond just the colonising of the African mind through the Imperialist cultural bomb, to another terrain.

As a dancer and choreographer, as the artistic director of this festival for the Centre for Creative Arts, I am aware that I work in one of the most contested territories on the planet – the body. That most race and gender oppressions sits on the visceral lived body takes my work out of the abstractions of academic discussions of oppressions into the embodied reality of race and gender that sits on the skin.

What more profound way to fight the effects of the cultural bomb than to make, live and support an art form that decolonises the oppressed, globalised, racialised and abused body? This is the work of the contemporary dancer, the choreographer and the arts administrator that makes space for this war against cellular forgetting. This festival makes a dedicated effort to invite and partner with organisation, artist and dance companies who are using the voice of their physical art form, to break down stereotypes, to address embodied histories and memory, who physically deconstruct socially and culturally defined ways of being inside one’s skin, and who also, sometimes, decolonise a theatre space by asking us to watch dance in another site.

And so tonight, on behalf of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, our College of Humanities, and the School of the Arts, and Centre for Creative Arts, I welcome you to the 18th edition of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience - and reflect on the longevity of 18 magnificent years of embodied danced rebellion against the effects of the Imperialist cultural bomb.

We fight, through JOMBA!’s dedicated space of serious contemporary dance making, against being seduced into thinking dance is only reality competition shows on television that promises the winner fame and fortune.

We fight against being uninterested by the demands of contemporary art and dance because it asks us to think and feel and listen, - and sweat - we fight thus against participating in the slow death of critical arts; and with this, the death of our resistance.

I cannot thank you all enough for being here tonight and bodily sitting on a seat to support this space.

I want to end tonight with a jump back in history to a time when the very concept of Modern Dance was being born. I leave you tonight with the word of José Limon – the Mexican American immigrant who changed dance history forever. In 1956, he said;

“Never have the arts been so needed, nor so challenged, as in these times of mechanized bestiality, when the human species seems possessed by a suicidal frenzy.  The Dance can remind us of the greatness of humanities spirit, and of her creativeness.

The Dance is many things. It is a Power.  It can help stem the putrefaction and decay gnawing at the heart of human courage, and withstand the philosophies of doom and surrender.  The dancer can use her voice to call for reason out of unreason, and order out of disorder.  That has always been the high task of the artist. 

The contemporary artist and dancer can do no less than dedicate the power of her spirit and the flame of her art to bring light to the dark places”.

JOMBA runs until September 4. For the full programme go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za

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Action in Autism Honours Women

Media Release

Action in Autism is honouring all the wonderful moms, grannies, sisters, aunts and caregivers who support people with autism, as well as women with autism themselves, in August.  A non-profit organisation, Action in Autism provides early intervention for 16 children under the age of 6 at their Centre in Sydenham. The organisation also provides a free walk-in resource and support service, a free diagnostic clinic, and regular support group meetings for families of people with autism.

To celebrate Women’s Month, Action in Autism is holding a Mad Hatter High Tea Fundraiser on Saturday 13 Augustfrom 2pm to 5pm at the George Campbell School Hall, 261 Sylvester Ntuli Road. All moms, caregivers, or anyone who would love to support the Centre and people with autism are welcome to attend.  Guests will be serenaded by the beautiful Thuli Zama, with piano accompaniment by Andile Mnikathi. Enjoy mini manis, pedis, and shoulder massages in addition to tea, coffee, cake and sandwiches. Wear a sensational hat to the event and win a prize!

Action in Autism does not receive any funding from government, and welcomes support through cash or kind, or through volunteering . Tickets for the High Tea are R150 and available from the Action in Autism office. The event is free to all single moms of people with autism. For more information about Action in Autism and the support to parents and families provided by the organisation, please call 031 207 4858 or email info@actioninautism.org.za.

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Further information:

Kirsten Miller

ACTION IN AUTISM

031 207 4858/083 7774468

info@actioninautism.org.za

Lebogang Phalula flies solo through Maritzburg SPAR Women’s 10/5km

Lebogang Phalula flies solo through Maritzburg SPAR Women’s 10/5km

Sunday 7 August

Lebogang Phalula (Boxer) flew through the finish line in this morning’s (Sunday 7 August) Maritzburg SPAR Women’s 10/5km in a respectable time of 34.41 – slicing off 1min 29secs off last year’s winning time.

The visibly relaxed athlete, whose only quest was to win the race, said after her run, “I managed to break away from the seeded runners in the first kilometre of the race, and I was pretty much alone from there on. I asked my friend Cornelia (Joubert) to stick with me for this race but she was unable to.”

“This was my first Maritzburg race, and I was not expecting so many hills, which were pretty tough, but I did enjoy it especially from the 8km mark where it was pretty much a downhill stride for me – it felt like I was floating.”

There is much excitement in the Phalula household as her sister, Lebo will be representing South Africa at the Rio Olympics in the Marathon this coming Sunday. For Lebogang, her focus is on the Totalsports 10km Race taking place in Johannesburg on Women’s Day.

Finishing 75 seconds behind Phalulua, Jenet Dlamini, (Umzimkhulu) crossed the line in a time of 35.56 followed by Cornelia Joubert (Boxer) 45 seconds later in 36.41.

Dlamini from Umzimkhulu stated that overall she was happy with her race, “It was a tough run for me having run the Hammarsdale 10km race last week so my legs were a bit tired.”

It was also Joubert’s first experience at the Maritzburg SPAR Women’s race, and although she was unfamiliar with the route, she was aiming for a top five position. “I was pleased with my result and my time even after having rested quite a bit this week as I had pushed myself in the 21.1km SA Champs in PE, where I finished tenth last weekend.”

There were a record number of entries this year of 4039 that competed in ideal running conditions. The capital of KwaZulu-Natal was slightly overcast with a bit of a nip in the air. The youngest runner clocked in at 9 years old and the oldest runner was 73 year old Beryl Trussler who finished in a time of 53.29.

Alexandra High athlete, Thembekile Mthimunye (17) took the honours in the 5km race breezing through in a time of 25.47.

“Well done to everyone who came out to brave the slight chill in the air. It was particularly festive this year, perhaps young and old alike have been inspired by the spirit of the Olympic Games in Rio? Whatever the reason, it was a joy to see so many people coming out in force to participate and have so much fun,” said MD for SPAR KZN, Rob Philipson.

The official race charity CHOC, will receive R8000 donation from the race entries.

Results

10km Open

1 Lebogang Phalula (Boxer) 34.41, 2 Jenet Dlamini (Umzimkhulu) 35.56, 3 Cornelia Houbert (Boxer) 36.41, 4 Jen Challenor (KPMG) 37.01, 5 Makhosi Mhlongo (Savages) 38.08, 6 Anet Coetzee 38.27, 7 Sizisandele Mkhize 39.14, 8 Janene Carey (Boxer) 39.48, 9 Suzette Botha (Eskom) 39.50, 10 Abigail Solms 41.31

15 – 19 years

1 Nosihle Phungula 47.45, 2 Fezeka Hadebe 50.55, 3  Kirsten Ahrens 1.05.18

35 – 39 years

1 Jen Challenor 37.01, 2 Nonsikelelo Mbambo 43.26, 3 Sindiswe Jali 49.39

40 – 49 years

1 Janene Carey 39.48, 2 Suzette Botha 39.50, 3 Xolisile Mwelase 47.04

50 – 59 years

1 Elana Pessenbacher 50.41, 2 Robyn Mellett 53.55, 3 Ntombifikile Mtungwa 57.27

60+ years

1 Sandra Fismer 47.53, 2 Jenny Tauloe 53.06, 3 Barbara Wright 1.10.01

-ends

When JOMBA! and powerful women collide

When JOMBA! and powerful women collide

The JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience – the twelve day exhilarating feast of dance takes place from 24 August to 4 September at the University of KwaZulu Natal Howard College’s Sneddon Theatre and KZNSA Gallery in Glenwood.

This year’s festival hosts dancers and dance companies from Switzerland, Austria, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Reunion Island, France and South Africa. Honouring the long term vision of JOMBA! to shine a light on the African continent and to make artistic connection with the rest of Africa, and in time Women’s Month in August, Jomba! premieres a collaboration between three exceptional African female dance-makers. South Africa’s Desiré Davids, Gabi Saranouffi from Madagascar and Edna Jaime of Mozambique come together to share their vision in a dance piece called “Lady, Lady”, an idea that was conceived when they met and worked together at residences over 2015/16.

Born in Paarl, Desiré graduated from the University of Cape Town School of Dance and is an internationally recognised contemporary dancer and choreographer. She is the co-founder together with Boyzie Cekwana of the Floating Outfit Project which was formed in 1997. The company has received International recognition as one of Africa’s ground breaking and cutting edge performance companies and has toured extensively in Europe, Africa as well as the USA. In 1999 she received the award for “Most Outstanding Female Performer” for her performance in “Rona” which won first prize at the 3rd International African and Indian Ocean Choreography Competition in Madagascar. Desiré’s first appearance on the JOMBA! stage was in 2010 with a premiere of her work titled “Who Is This...Beneath My Skin” on which she collaborated with French photographer Pascale Berouion.

Gaby, the second of the women trio is one of the most prominent female artists in the history of dance in Madagascar. She founded the I'Trôtra festival  which is a platform for the Malagasy art form, becoming a unifying structure of talents and artists of all kinds but also for all people working in the field of performing arts. The last fit of the trio is Maputo based Mozambican Edna Jaime, an independent dancer and choreographer. She began her dance career in 1996 with traditional dance in The House of Culture of Maputo. Her work is a mesmerising mash-up between traditional and contemporary dance.

These artists share, explore and exchange their realities in order to give voice to various commonalities, challenges and images as they move towards a commentary on current issues facing women in the African context. Full of wit, irony and spirited dance this is sure to be a talking point of the festival.

Other dance companies that will feature at Jomba! include France’s Company Ex Nihilo, Mamaza, Swiss company that is winning awards throughout the world, Reunion Island’sSoul City which best known for the innovative ways in which it uses Hip Hop to confluence into contemporary dance. Hip-Hop and the power of the urban dance Bboyz and BGirlz is further highlighted at the festival with the collaboration between Austrian choreographer Daniel Renner and Durban’s inimitable Flatfoot Dance Company.  The acclaimed South African born dancer and choreographer Vincent Mantsoe is also on the line-up with an African premiere of his new solo work titled “KonKoriti”.

Tickets are R60.00 or R45.00 (scholars/students/pensioners) for the Sneddon Theatre and bookings can be done via Computicket (or at venue from one hour before). Tickets for the KZNSA Gallery are R50 (no concessions) and available at venue only – from one hour before the performance.

 For more information and the programme, please go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za and join us on Facebook (JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience) and Twitter (Twitter@Jomba_dance).

END

18th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience 24 August to 4 September 2016

MEDIA RELEASE

18th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, presents its 18th annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre and KZNSA Gallery from 24 August  to 4 September.

This year’s JOMBA! is an international and national delight for dance and theatre lovers with dancers, dance companies and choreographers making their way to Durban from all corners of the globe for 12 full days of some of the world’s best dance theatre work that promises to provoke, entertain, delight, challenge and leave audiences breathless with the sheer joy of dance in all its various contemporary manifestations. This year’s festival hosts dancers and dance companies from Switzerland, Austria, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Reunion Island, France and South Africa. 

JOMBA! opening night in partnership with the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia, features one of Europe’s hot tickets in the form of a duet created by MAMAZA; a young Swiss company that are winning awards throughout the world. They bring a tender and viscerally challenging duet that places these two ex-Forsythe dancers in a reflecting stage space that sees their lives connect and re-connect in an endless algorithm of what two people can be with visions and echoes of themselves.

France’s Company Ex Nihilo, also features on opening night, offering a site responsive dance work for the audience as they leave the theatre. Ex Nihilo, based in Marseille, create dance ‘interventions’ around a desire to regard shared public spaces as a work place, as they embrace spatial history, never excluding the passer-by and  spectator. “We are particularly proud to host dance companies like Ex Nihilo who are breaking down the traditional barriers that often exist in theatre spaces,” says Artistic Director of JOMBA!, Lliane Loots.

Honouring the long term vision of JOMBA! to shine a light on the African continent and to make artistic connection with the rest of Africa, this 2016 festival will premiere a collaboration between three exceptional Southern African female dance-makers who come together to share their vision in dance. Desiré Davids (South Africa), Gabi Saranouffi (Madagascar) and Edna Jaime (Mozambique) present a work called “Lady, Lady” that is a result of various short residences over 2015/16 where they were able to meet and work together. These artists share, explore and exchange their realities in order to give voice to various commonalities, challenges and images as they move towards a commentary on current issues facing women in the African context. Full of wit, irony and spirited dance this is sure to be a talking point of the festival. 

Continuing the festival’s connection to its continental history, Reunion Island’s Company Soul City returns to JOMBA! to present their newest work “Priyèr Si Priyèr” (fresh from a sold out tour in Germany). The company is best known for the innovative ways in which it uses the genre of Hip Hop and its confluence into contemporary dance. “Priyèr Si Priyèr” is a quest of the sacred through ritual. Based on Hip Hop’s unique energy, this dance work uses Reunion Island and its people as the source of inspirations.

Hip-Hop and the power of the urban dance Bboyz and BGirlz is further highlighted at the festival with the collaboration between Austrian choreographer Daniel Renner and Durban’s inimitable Flatfoot Dance Company. Renner comes to Durban with two of Europe’s most prolific breakdancers, Bilal Bachir (Germany) and Maarten Krielen (Holland), to join forces with Durban’s Preston ‘Kayzo’ Kyd, as they meet the fluid grace and technical prowess of Flatfoot Dance Company in a new creation. Titled “IDHRA/breath”, Renner returns to the sanctity of the “in and out breath”, the life force of all of us, and the very essence of dance, to create a mesmerising invocation to beauty.  “This is Renner’s third collaboration with Flatfoot (all have premiered at the JOMBA! festivals) and he comes to Durban not as a guest but as family as he shares his unique dance vision with us.” explains Loots.Over his 4 week residency, Renner will also spend time training and choreographing with the Flatfoot trainees to create a small new work for the JOMBA! Fringe programme. Break-dancers Bachir and Kreilen will also spend time exchanging and skills sharing with various eThekwini dance development programmes in Umlazi, Newlands, KwaMashu and Waterloo. 

Another coup of JOMBA! 2016 is the African premiere of acclaimed South African born dancer/choreographer Vincent Mantsoe’s new solo work, “KonKoriti”. Meaning “a state of being”, “KonKorti” returnsto the original solo format of Mantsoe’s award-winning and globally acclaimed style of dance making. Enthralling audiences with his vision of African contemporary dance and the meeting of Asian, African and contemporary styles, Mantsoe’s solo is a prayer to the power of self and is inspired by Mantsoe’s own physical, spiritual and emotional growth as both a dance maker and as an African. “Mantsoe performed at the very first JOMBA! festival in 1997 and it is an honour for Durban to play host to him again,” says Loots. “As part of the festival, he will also be teaching a master class while in Durban so I would advise that interested dancers book early to learn from one of our continent’s great artists!”

JOMBA! 2016 will also present a programme at the KZNSA Gallery in Bulwer Road, Glenwood on Monday, August 29. “The gallery space offers an alternate kind of challenge to dance makers and for artists who work outside of the traditions of the proscenium arch,” says Loots.  France’s Ex Nihilo continue their exploitation of everyday open space at this event with a dance performance work called “Calle Obrapia #4”. JOMBA! @ KZNSA Gallery will also host to one of India’s most controversial contemporary dance makers Preethi Athreya. Moving away from the classism and over-romaticisation of tradition, Athreya has created a solo that explores the reframing of notions of classism and beauty. Her solo, “Across, not Over” is created for, and performed by, Kathak dancer Vikram Iyengar and is, in the end, a tender and evocative meeting of two incredible dance talents and two dance styles; Baratha Natayam and Kathak. 

JOMBA! @ KZNSA Gallery is rounded off with a new work by Durban’s Lliane Loots, who partners again with spoken word maestro, Iain ewok Robinson, Durban’s Kathak expert Manesh Maharaj, filmmaker Karen Logan, and the ADD Flatfoot dancers. Loots has crated “MIGRATIONS (at the feet of Kali)” for the main gallery space. This is the second part of Loots’s newest trilogy that looks at issues of ‘home’. The work can be viewed independently or in context to the first part “HOMELAND (security)” which was performed in April 2016 by Flatfoot Dance Company. It is an ‘in situ’ physical journey into the heart of colonial and post-colonial rememberings around the movements and/or migrations of people. Using personal memory as the starting point, this work interfaces with the convergence of Indian and South African histories, and will tackle some challenging notions around issues that will no doubt stir some controversy.

New to JOMBA! this year is “KZN ON THE EDGE” a curated platform that seeks to support fresh and innovative contemporary dance work coming out of the KZN region. For this inaugural “KZN ON THE EDGE”, three innovative selections have been made. The first is a collaboration between lighting designer Michael Broderick and David Gouldie called “one man, one light”, the second is the consistent excellence of past JOMBA! Fringe work being made by Tegan Peacok and her Pietermartizburg based ReRouted Dance Company. They will premiere a new work called the “Paraphernalia of suffering”. The final performance place has been given to the newest “kids on the block”, Phakama Dance Company. Choreographer Sandile Mkhize will also premier a new work called “take me back home”. “This platform ensures that JOMBA! continues to mentor and support new and established KZN-based dance makers who are proving their mettle by consistently putting work of excellence into the public domain despite funding cuts,” says Loots.

JOMBA! hosts its Fringe on Tuesday 30 August with 10 new works of 10 to 15 minute each, and the Youth Fringe on Sunday 28 August. With over 40 entries for a coveted place in this year’s JOMBA! Fringe, the selection of only 10 works was a difficult task but means that the final selection offers a standard of dance theatre that is growing. The JOMBA! Youth Fringe takes place at the UKZN Open Air Theatre (entrance is free!) and is a celebration of over 20 KZN based youth dance groups and the incredible dance work that they are doing. 

JOMBA! also offers a full programme of workshops and master classes by all of the participating dancers and choreographers. For a full listing go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za and go to the JOMBA! page. These workshops and classes are offered free of charge (dancers must be 16 years and older) but booking is essential.

Performances are from 24 to 27 August, and 30 August to 4 September at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at 7.30pm, at the Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre is on 28 August at 2pm and the @KZNSA Gallery on 29 August at 6pm.

Tickets are R60 or R45 (scholars/students/pensioners) for the Sneddon Theatre and bookings can be done through Computicket (or at venue from one hour before). Tickets for the KZNSA Gallery are R50 (no concessions) and available at venue only – from one hour before the performance . The JOMBA! Youth Fringe at the Pieter Scholtz Open air Theatre is free.

For more information, please go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za and join us on Facebook (JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience) and Twitter (Twitter@Jomba_dance).

The 18th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience is under the artistic direction of Lliane Loots and is organised and hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and is supported primarily by the eThekwini Municipality. 

Media Enquiries

For more Information, interviews and pictures please contact:

Sharlene Versfeld / Ayanda Mabanga

Maritzburg SPAR Women's 10/5km Race: Sunday 7 August - Road Closures and Race Route

Media Release

Pietermaritzburg: Sunday 7 August - ROAD CLOSURES AND RACE ROUTE

 

The running of the annual Maritzburg SPAR Women’s 10/5km race will be taking place in and around The Oval on Sunday 7 August.

With an expected field of 4,000 athletes that will take to the roads at 8.00am, the following roads will be affected for the duration of the race. 

Balmoral                                                                                           – closed from 04:00 – 11:00

Princess Margaret                                                                            – closed from 04:00 – 11: 00

Park Drive between Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth   - closed from 04:00 – 11:00

Princess Elizabeth                                                                              - closed from 04:00 – 11:00

Park Drive from College Rd to Princess Elizabeth                   - closed from 07:30 – 11:00

Alexandra Road from Cross Rd to Alan Paton Ave - closed (inbound only) from 07:30 – 10:00

Alan Paton Ave from Alexandra Rd to Burger St    - closed (inbound only) from 07:30 – 08:30

Alexandra Road will be closed in both directions from 08:00 until approximately 08:45 to accommodate the large field.

The race route is:

10km ROUTE

Start in Princess Margaret Drive outside Maritzburg College main rugby field (the full road width) 

Turn left into Alexandra Road (with the flow) 

Turn left into Alan Paton Avenue (with the flow) 

Turn left into Burger Street (with the flow)

Turn right into Peter Kerchhoff Street

Turn left into Jabu Ndlovu Street (on the left of the wall) 

Turn left into West Street (with the flow) 

Turn left into Park Drive (with the flow) 

Turn right through the Mayors garden (first gate) 

Turn right into Balmoral Drive

Turn right into Princess Margaret Drive

Turn left into Park Drive (with the flow)

Turn left into College Road (with the flow) 

Turn right into Topham Road (with the flow) 

Turn left into John Barker (with the flow) 

Turn left into Alexandra Road (with the flow) 

Turn left into Princess Margaret Drive

Turn right into Princess Elizabeth Drive

Turn left into Park Drive

Turn right into The Oval Cricket Stadium

5km Fun Run/Walk ROUTE

Start in Princess Margaret Drive outside Maritzburg College main rugby field (the full road width) 

Turn left into Alexandra Road (with the flow) 

Turn left into Alan Paton Avenue (with the flow) 

Turn left into Burger Street (with the flow) 

Turn right into Peter Kerchhoff Street

Turn left into Jabu Ndlovu Street (on the left of the wall) 

Turn left into West Street (with the flow) 

Turn left into Park Drive (with the flow) 

Turn left into The Oval Cricket Stadium

Entries can only be done now at Race Registration on Friday 5 August from 10am to 5pm and Saturday 6 August from 10am to 3pm at the Oval. 

Entries are open to all from ages of 15 going up, in both the 5km and 10km races. Entry fees are R70 for the 10km licensed athletes and for the 5km runners. R80 is the entry fee for the Non-licensed athletes; the extra R10 includes a temporary licence for the day. 

For more info contact the race organisers on maritzburg@sparwomensrace.co.za or visit the official race on www.sparwomensrace.co.za or like the Facebook page.

-ends

CHOC: The official charity of Pietermaritzburg SPAR Women's Race

CHOC: The official charity of Maritzburg SPAR Women’s Race

The Pietermaritzburg branch of CHOC, the Childhood Cancer Foundation, is once again the official race charity of the Maritzburg SPAR Women’s 10/5km which take place around Alexandra Park on Sunday, August 7.

Two rand from every entry will go to the foundation, which essentially is a support group of parents with children with cancer who support fellow parents and children with cancer.

“We rely heavily on donations and financial support from the public and other sources so we can provide free board and lodge and other invaluable services to children with cancer and their families,” says Agie Govender, Regional Manager for CHOC KZN. “We are really grateful to everyone who participates in this race for the contribution they are making to this service."

‘We are pleased to be able to support CHOC as they provide an incredible support for parents and children,” says Rob Philipson MD of SPAR KZN. “Thank you to all of you involved in providing this support."

The 10km race is open to entrants 14 years and older and the 5km to 9 years and older. 

Entries are limited to 4,000 and the 10km distance is open from age 14 and to the 5km from age 9, the age restrictions being applicable on the day of the competition. Entry fees are R90 for the 10km licensed athletes and for the 5km runners. The entry fee for the Non-licensed athletes is R100; the extra R10 includes a temporary licence for the day. 

EFT entries have now closed and only Credit Card can be taken online until Saturday 30 July. Thereafter participants can enter at the Oval on Friday 5 (10am to 5pm) and Saturday, 6 August (10am to 3pm).

For more info contact the race organisers on maritzburg@sparwomensrace.co.za or visit the official race on www.sparwomensrace.co.za or like the Facebook page.

ENDS

SPAR KZN School Girls' Hockey Wrap Up for Grand Finals

SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey

Wrap Up for Grand Finals

St Mary’s DSG: 23 & 24 July

The wet weather didn’t dampen the spirits, or the action at the Grand Finals of this year’s SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge with St Mary’s DSG taking the win in determined fashion on their home turf.

Meeting the defending champions, the host school St Mary’s took on Durban Girls’ College in the gold silver game. After thirty minutes of superb flowing play, with both teams sharing equal possession, the score was level on nil nil with the 2016 winner being decided in a penalty shoot-out. 

First to go were College, missing their 8 second penalty. Leah Piggott representing Saints was first in line for her team and didn’t manage to capitalise on College’s miss. The final four rolling penalties went Saints way, with College unable to penetrate Sarah Cromie’s solid presence in goals in their two attempts. Vice-Captain for St Mary’s DSG, Tegan Fourie put the first points up on the board, followed up by Kiana Cormack slotting in her team’s second.  The final score was 2-0 to Saints. 

The two giants of the tournament had met earlier in the pool games with Saints managing to win that game 1-0 with their feisty Vice-Captain netting the all-important goal. In their fifth appearance of the tournament, this is the second time St Mary’s DSG have won. Their first time was in 2012, also tallying up a bronze in 2011 and 2013 and a fourth place last year.

It was not to be for Durban Girls’ College. In their sixth appearance, College were hoping to make this their fourth title in a row, with gold in 2013, 2014 and 2015. The team representing the Durban Central Regional ended their pool games second behind St Mary’s, but tied on points with the hard-working team from King Edward High School. Both College and King Edward finished the pool games on 9points with College advancing to the final having scored more goals. 

In the bronze medal game, it was a Pietermaritzburg derby with St Anne’s and Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High duelling it out on the astro. In their second meeting of the tournament, St Anne’s managed to clinch the win to claim bronze. In their first meeting, captain for St Anne’s, Julia Saulez found the back of the net to put her team 1-0 up in an exciting conclusion to the Pool B games. 

After half an hour in the bronze final, the whistle went for full time with the score sitting on nil nil. Both teams first attempts didn’t manage to find the back of the net, with Girls’ High second attempt also not troubling the scorers. St Anne’s Daniella Rhodes put her team one up with her penalty shot. Levelling the scores for Girls’ High, Nandi Ngubane gave her team a chance. With the pressure on, St Anne’s Steph Wenke got shut down by goalie, Nox Manele with the score now level. 

The game moved on to sudden death with St Anne’s Captain Julia Saulez leading by example and scoring. Then vibrant keeper for St Anne’s, Megan Rebstein-Dovey rose to the occasion, not allowing the first and final shot in the sudden death to pass her, giving her team the title of bronze winners.

Rob Philipson, MD for SPAR KZN stated, “After 29 games this weekend, 160 young ladies can be extremely proud of themselves for their achievement. Each and every one of the players battled the chilly weather and did so superbly. They not only represented their school, but their region with great pride and grace. Well done ladies to your successes at this wonderful tournament.”

A new initiative this year was the inclusion of a hockey bursary by Varsity College. With the decision being extremely difficult this year, the college awarded two bursaries. The announcement was made at the prize giving, with the recipients being invited to study and play for Varsity College. The two bursary winners were Tegan Fourie from St Mary’s DSG and Courtney Slaney from Westville Girls’ High School.

At the prize-giving, Tournament Director, Les Galloway said, “Ladies, you entertained us this weekend with a display of phenomenal skill and talent on the turf. To St Mary’s DSG, well done on your win. I believe, looking at the score lines, the standard of hockey is certainly improving in our province. A team like King Edward played impressively keeping hockey playing school, College to a draw. Another outlying school, Wartburg also impressed, giving it their absolute all this year. It is a joy to see our great game of hockey winning at the end of the day!”

Results

1 St Mary’s DSG, 2 Durban Girls’ College, 3 St Anne’s College, 4 Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High, 5 Wartburg Kirchdorf School, 6 King Edward High School, 7 Ashton International College, 8 Grantleigh College, 9 Sarel Cilliers High School, 10 Amanzimtoti High School.

Scores

Pool Games

St Mary’s DSG 2 vs Grantleigh School 0

Sarel Cilliers High School 0 – King Edward High School 2

St Anne’s DSG 4 – Amanzimtoti High School 0

Wartburg Kirchdorf School 0 – Ashton International College 0

Grantleigh School 0 – Durban Girls’ College 2

St Mary’s DSG 5 – Sarel Cilliers High School 0

Amanzimtoti High School 0 – Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School 1

St Anne’s College 4 – Wartburg Kirchdorf School 0

Durban Girls’ College 0 – King Edward High School 0

Grantleigh School 0 – Sarel Cilliers High School 0

Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High 0 – Ashton International College 0

Amanzimtoti High School 0 – Wartburg Kirchdorf School 2

Sarel Cilliers High School 0 – Durban Girls’ College 5

King Edward High School 0 – St Mary’s DSG 2

Wartburg Kirchdorf School 0 – Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School 1

Ashton International College 1 – St Anne’s College 3

Durban Girls’ College 0 – St Mary’s DSG 1

King Edward High School 2 – Grantleigh School 1

Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School 0 – St Anne’s College 1

Ashton International College 0 – Amanzimtoti High School 0

Play-Offs

Grantleigh 0 – Wartburg Kirchdorf School 6

King Edward High School 1 (3) – Ashton International College 1 (2)

Durban Girls’ College 0 (3) – St Anne’s College 0 (2)

St Mary’s DSG 2 – Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School 1

Sarel Cilliers High School 2 – Amanzimtoti High School 0

Grantleigh School 0 – Ashton International College 1

Wartburg Kirchdorf School 1 – King Edward High School 0

St Anne’s DSG 0 (2) – Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School 0 (1)

Durban Girls’ College 0 (0) – St Mary’s DSG 0 (2)

ENDS

18th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

MEDIA RELEASE

18th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience

The University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Centre for Creative Arts, presents its 18th annual JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre, Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre and KZNSA Gallery from 24 August  to 4 September.

This year’s JOMBA! is an international and national delight for dance and theatre lovers with dancers, dance companies and choreographers making their way to Durban from all corners of the globe for 12 full days of some of the world’s best dance theatre work that promises to provoke, entertain, delight, challenge and leave audiences breathless with the sheer joy of dance in all its various contemporary manifestations. This year’s festival hosts dancers and dance companies from Switzerland, Austria, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, Reunion Island, France and South Africa. 

JOMBA! opening night in partnership with the Swiss Arts Council, Pro Helvetia, features one of Europe’s hot tickets in the form of a duet created by MAMAZA; a young Swiss company that are winning awards throughout the world. They bring a tender and viscerally challenging duet that places these two ex-Forsythe dancers in a reflecting stage space that sees their lives connect and re-connect in an endless algorithm of what two people can be with visions and echoes of themselves.

France’s Company Ex Nihilo, also features on opening night, offering a site responsive dance work for the audience as they leave the theatre. Ex Nihilo, based in Marseille, create dance ‘interventions’ around a desire to regard shared public spaces as a work place, as they embrace spatial history, never excluding the passer-by and  spectator. “We are particularly proud to host dance companies like Ex Nihilo who are breaking down the traditional barriers that often exist in theatre spaces,” says Artistic Director of JOMBA!, Lliane Loots.

Honouring the long term vision of JOMBA! to shine a light on the African continent and to make artistic connection with the rest of Africa, this 2016 festival will premiere a collaboration between three exceptional Southern African female dance-makers who come together to share their vision in dance. Desiré Davids (South Africa), Gabi Saranouffi (Madagascar) and Edna Jaime (Mozambique) present a work called “Lady, Lady” that is a result of various short residences over 2015/16 where they were able to meet and work together. These artists share, explore and exchange their realities in order to give voice to various commonalities, challenges and images as they move towards a commentary on current issues facing women in the African context. Full of wit, irony and spirited dance this is sure to be a talking point of the festival. 

Continuing the festival’s connection to its continental history, Reunion Island’s Company Soul City returns to JOMBA! to present their newest work “Priyèr Si Priyèr” (fresh from a sold out tour in Germany). The company is best known for the innovative ways in which it uses the genre of Hip Hop and its confluence into contemporary dance. “Priyèr Si Priyèr” is a quest of the sacred through ritual. Based on Hip Hop’s unique energy, this dance work uses Reunion Island and its people as the source of inspirations.

Hip-Hop and the power of the urban dance Bboyz and BGirlz is further highlighted at the festival with the collaboration between Austrian choreographer Daniel Renner and Durban’s inimitable Flatfoot Dance Company. Renner comes to Durban with two of Europe’s most prolific breakdancers, Bilal Bachir (Germany) and Maarten Krielen (Holland), to join forces with Durban’s Preston ‘Kayzo’ Kyd, as they meet the fluid grace and technical prowess of Flatfoot Dance Company in a new creation. Titled “IDHRA/breath”, Renner returns to the sanctity of the “in and out breath”, the life force of all of us, and the very essence of dance, to create a mesmerising invocation to beauty.  “This is Renner’s third collaboration with Flatfoot (all have premiered at the JOMBA! festivals) and he comes to Durban not as a guest but as family as he shares his unique dance vision with us.” explains Loots.Over his 4 week residency, Renner will also spend time training and choreographing with the Flatfoot trainees to create a small new work for the JOMBA! Fringe programme. Break-dancers Bachir and Kreilen will also spend time exchanging and skills sharing with various eThekwini dance development programmes in Umlazi, Newlands, KwaMashu and Waterloo. 

Another coup of JOMBA! 2016 is the African premiere of acclaimed South African born dancer/choreographer Vincent Mantsoe’s new solo work, “KonKoriti”. Meaning “a state of being”, “KonKorti” returnsto the original solo format of Mantsoe’s award-winning and globally acclaimed style of dance making. Enthralling audiences with his vision of African contemporary dance and the meeting of Asian, African and contemporary styles, Mantsoe’s solo is a prayer to the power of self and is inspired by Mantsoe’s own physical, spiritual and emotional growth as both a dance maker and as an African. “Mantsoe performed at the very first JOMBA! festival in 1997 and it is an honour for Durban to play host to him again,” says Loots. “As part of the festival, he will also be teaching a master class while in Durban so I would advise that interested dancers book early to learn from one of our continent’s great artists!”

JOMBA! 2016 will also present a programme at the KZNSA Gallery in Bulwer Road, Glenwood on Monday, August 29. “The gallery space offers an alternate kind of challenge to dance makers and for artists who work outside of the traditions of the proscenium arch,” says Loots.  France’s Ex Nihilo continue their exploitation of everyday open space at this event with a dance performance work called “Calle Obrapia #4”. JOMBA! @ KZNSA Gallery will also host to one of India’s most controversial contemporary dance makers Preethi Athreya. Moving away from the classism and over-romaticisation of tradition, Athreya has created a solo that explores the reframing of notions of classism and beauty. Her solo, “Across, not Over” is created for, and performed by, Kathak dancer Vikram Iyengar and is, in the end, a tender and evocative meeting of two incredible dance talents and two dance styles; Baratha Natayam and Kathak. 

JOMBA! @ KZNSA Gallery is rounded off with a new work by Durban’s Lliane Loots, who partners again with spoken word maestro, Iain ewok Robinson, Durban’s Kathak expert Manesh Maharaj, filmmaker Karen Logan, and the ADD Flatfoot dancers. Loots has crated “MIGRATIONS (at the feet of Kali)” for the main gallery space. This is the second part of Loots’s newest trilogy that looks at issues of ‘home’. The work can be viewed independently or in context to the first part “HOMELAND (security)” which was performed in April 2016 by Flatfoot Dance Company. It is an ‘in situ’ physical journey into the heart of colonial and post-colonial rememberings around the movements and/or migrations of people. Using personal memory as the starting point, this work interfaces with the convergence of Indian and South African histories, and will tackle some challenging notions around issues that will no doubt stir some controversy.

New to JOMBA! this year is “KZN ON THE EDGE” a curated platform that seeks to support fresh and innovative contemporary dance work coming out of the KZN region. For this inaugural “KZN ON THE EDGE”, three innovative selections have been made. The first is a collaboration between lighting designer Michael Broderick and David Gouldie called “one man, one light”, the second is the consistent excellence of past JOMBA! Fringe work being made by Tegan Peacok and her Pietermartizburg based ReRouted Dance Company. They will premiere a new work called the “Paraphernalia of suffering”. The final performance place has been given to the newest “kids on the block”, Phakama Dance Company. Choreographer Sandile Mkhize will also premier a new work called “take me back home”. “This platform ensures that JOMBA! continues to mentor and support new and established KZN-based dance makers who are proving their mettle by consistently putting work of excellence into the public domain despite funding cuts,” says Loots.

JOMBA! hosts its Fringe on Tuesday 30 August with 10 new works of 10 to 15 minute each, and the Youth Fringe on Sunday 28 August. With over 40 entries for a coveted place in this year’s JOMBA! Fringe, the selection of only 10 works was a difficult task but means that the final selection offers a standard of dance theatre that is growing. The JOMBA! Youth Fringe takes place at the UKZN Open Air Theatre (entrance is free!) and is a celebration of over 20 KZN based youth dance groups and the incredible dance work that they are doing. 

JOMBA! also offers a full programme of workshops and master classes by all of the participating dancers and choreographers. For a full listing go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za and go to the JOMBA! page. These workshops and classes are offered free of charge (dancers must be 16 years and older) but booking is essential.

Performances are from 24 to 27 August, and 30 August to 4 September at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre at 7.30pm, at the Pieter Scholtz Open Air Theatre is on 28 August at 2pm and the @KZNSA Gallery on 29 August at 6pm.

Tickets are R60 or R45 (scholars/students/pensioners) for the Sneddon Theatre and bookings can be done through Computicket (or at venue from one hour before). Tickets for the KZNSA Gallery are R50 (no concessions) and available at venue only – from one hour before the performance . The JOMBA! Youth Fringe at the Pieter Scholtz Open air Theatre is free.

For more information, please go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za and join us on Facebook (JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience) and Twitter (Twitter@Jomba_dance).

The 18th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience is under the artistic direction of Lliane Loots and is organised and hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (University of KwaZulu-Natal), and is supported primarily by the eThekwini Municipality. 

Media Enquiries

For more Information, interviews and pictures please contact:

Sharlene Versfeld / Ayanda Mabanga

What's Happening in Durban & KZN

KZN Theatre, Arts & Events Diary

Week of Thursday 14 July, 2016

Prepared by Publicity Matters (see all their details at end of this listing for interviews and queries)

Family Holiday Theatre:

Buddy Holly

Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre: 23 July – 7 August

This July, Durban audiences can enjoy the story of pioneering rock legend, Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre from 23 July – 7 August

Catalina UnLtd, continuing in the great tradition, presents the smash-hit musical, Buddy: the Buddy Holly Story. This production, under the capable direction of Themi Venturas, brings together a top professional team. The show is filled with toe tapping hits including Buddy Holly classics like That’ll be the day, Everyday, Oh Boy! Maybe Baby, Peggy Sue, Big Bopper’s Chantilly Lace, Ritchie Valens’ smash hit La Bamba and Chuck Berry’s Johnny B Goode. Audiences can expect a rocking and rollicking fun show that tells the story of an amazing music industry legend whose life was tragically cut short. 

Bookings are through Computicket with discounted performances at 02.30pm and 07.00pm Sat 23 and 2.30pm Sun 24 July at R70. General public performances at R120 are from 26 July – 7 August at 07.00pm. Schools performances (R50 per learner) are at 02.30pm on 29 July and 2 & 4 August. Booking for schools can be done through the company, email info@catalinatheatre.com for more information.

Theatre:

Lenny

Playhouse Drama Theatre: 21 - 31 July

A powerful new play commemorating the life of former political activist Lenny Naidu is to be staged in the Playhouse Drama theatre this month. Written and narrated by Jayshree Parasuramen and starring Rahul Brijnath, Lenny tells a moving human story about a man who gave his life for to the struggle for freedom of the people of South Africa. Directed by Themi Venturas, the production’s world premiere season takes place in the Playhouse Drama Theatre in Durban from 21 to 31 July 2016.

“Whilst Lenny is a story based in the history and facts of the ANC stalwart Lenny Naidu who was killed during the latter years of apartheid by the Third Force based at Vlakplaas, the story is also universal. It is about families who are torn apart by history unfolding, and those that are left behind. It is about chance, but most of all it is about one human’s propensity for brutality on another - the sort of brutality that was inflicted by the apartheid era, or the holocaust, or the Russian pogroms, or the killing fields of Cambodia,” said Jayshree Parasuramen

Show times in the Playhouse Drama are as follows: 21 July at 7.30pm (opening); 22 July at 7.30pm; 23 July at 3pm and 7.30pm; 27 and 28 July at 11am (schools performances); 30 July at 3pm and 7.30pm; with a final performance on Sunday 31 July at 3pm. Tickets are R120 for the public performances of Lenny. Booking is through Computicket on 0861 915 8000 or online at www.computicket.com. Alternatively call the Playhouse Box Office on 031-369 9540 or 369 9596 (office hours). Tickets for the school performances are R30 per learner.   To secure school bookings, call 072 9260692 or 083 610 9931 or 031 826 5585 (o/h).

Sweetie Darling

Playhouse Loft Theatre: 19 - 24 July

Copy Dog in association with The Playhouse Company proudly presents Sweetie Darling, a new one-man stage comedy by multiple award-winning playwright-director Clinton Marius (Lollipop Lane, The Fantastical Flea Circus, B!*ch Stole My Doek). Starring the popular Durban actor, Bongani Mbatha, Sweetie Darling will play in The Loft Theatre from 19 to 24 July 2016.

Sweetie Darling is a romantic comedy about a young man who goes all out to prove himself.  While he sets up a picnic in the park for his sweetheart, he recounts the ups and downs of his journey to happiness.  As he finds himself, and love, he also finds his path to spiritual growth. 

Performances of Sweetie Darling in the Loft Theatre will be at 7.30pm from Tuesday to Saturday, 19 to 23 July, and at 2.30pm on Sunday 24 July. Tickets are R50 (Tuesday and Wednesday performances) and R85 (Friday to Sunday). Booking is through Computicket on 0861 915 8000 or at www.computicket.com. Bookings can also be made via the Playhouse Box Office on 031-369 9540 (office hours). 

“Sometimes, life isn’t simply black and white.”

Waiting for Nelson

Courtyard Theatre: Sat 23 July at 6pm

East London born and Johannesburg based actor, writer and director Mbasa Tsetsana will be bringing his award winning production, Waiting for Nelson, to the DUT’s Department of Drama and Production Studies to the Courtyard theatre at Saturday 23 July at 7pm. 

This professional staging will be doubled billed with a student version of Waiting for Nelson under the direction of DUT directing student Sphephelo Dlamini. Audiences will have the rare opportunity to see two versions of the same production performed one after the other with an interval in-between. The second version will be followed by a Q&A with writer, directors and cast.

For more information contact the Departmental Secretary, Lebohang Sibisi on (031) 3732194 / lebohangs@dut.ac.za. Tickets are R30 at the door, students R20. 

Early Bird tickets for Tim Plewman’s

Defending the Caveman

Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre: 6 – 17 Sept

There are early bird specials for tickets to Tim Plewman’s fabulous one man show:  Defending the Caveman – with 20% off the ticket price throughout July

Tim Plewman, by public demand, once again dons the Caveman’s skins and steps onto stage to add to his record breaking slew of sold out performances of the longest-running and most successful solo comedy in South African theatre history. The Broadway production still holds the record of the longest running non- musical solo comedy of all time. What more can be said about this wonderful show that so humorously exposes the hunter and gatherer in us all and has played to over a million people?

Tickets through Computicket, with 20% off the ticket price throughout July.

AIDS2016:

HIV/AIDS Creatives for AIDS2016

AIDS2016: the world's largest global health conference, now significantly in its 21st year, returns to our shores, monopolising the public spaces, media and mind-set of Durban from 18 – 22 July. At that time, the global creative community, taking the lead from Durban creatives, will be hosting a myriad project, events, exhibitions and engagements which talk to an HIV/AIDS theme.

Through Positive Eyes

Durban Art Gallery: from 17 July

Award-winning photographer Gideon Mendel and UCLA professor David Gere have, for the last 10 years, been building Through Positive Eyes, a participatory photography project in which people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) share their stories in the form of photos, video, and narrative. 

The project has now culminated in a multi-faceted Through Positive Eyes exhibition, to be shown throughout the southern African region, the European Union, and the United States, beginning in July 2016 and continuing through 2020. 

The exhibition in its current form has been curated by David Gere (Los Angeles), Stan Pressner (New York) and Carol Brown (Durban).

Artivist

Durban Art Gallery: from 17 July

Complementing Through Positive Eyes, there will be additional artworks on display at DAG: artists include artists Daniel Goldstein (San Francisco) whose sculptural Medicine Man is an iconic image and will be included with mandala-like presentations of photographs.   Gordon Mundie (London) has created a “bag of shame” and an interactive stigma installation using UV light and invisible ink and New Delhi-based curator Parthiv Shah’s contribution is a beautiful series of hand-made books displayed as artworks.  The team of artivists have chosen favorite images from the project and included other works giving these images their own individualistic spin. The exhibition culminates in a gallery transformed into a small theater, in which a sophisticated sound-and-light show, designed by New York theatrical designer Stan Pressner, is enacted, entiled “Banishing Stigma.” 

The exhibition in its current form has been curated by David Gere (Los Angeles), Stan Pressner (New York) and Carol Brown (Durban).

The Butterfly Project

Denis Hurley Centre: for Aids2016

The Butterfly Project is a project initiative of the US Consulate Durban, the Denis Hurley Centre and the office of the Premier, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), aimed at getting KZNs teenagers involved in AIDS2016 to envision an AIDS free generation. 

100 young people a day, over six days, have created butterflies out of recyled plastic in workshops at the Denis Hurley Centre in the heart of Durban working towards a huge public art installation which is now on display at the DHC over AIDS2016 before being dismantled and elements sent for display at participating communities. Alongside the butterfly-making workshops, DramAidE and facilitators affirmed the health education message that behavioural change is necessary to work towards an AIDS free generation. 

For more info, contact Seth Pyoos on tel: 031 301 2240 or seth@denishurleycentre.org.

South African Voices: 

Towards a Museum of HIV Memory and Learning

KwaMuhle Museum: now open

South African Voices: Towards a Museum of HIV Memory and Learning is a collection of artefacts, artistic, historic and photographic items that pay tribute to those who suffered and succumbed, and those who live with HIV every day in South Africa.

South African Voices is a partnership project between eThekwini Municipality, Avacarehealth and info4africa. It will be situated at KwaMuhle Local History Museum, on Bram Fischer Road. This is adjacent to the AIDS2016 Conference parking.

“Created as a legacy project of AIDS2016, South African Voices documents a critical and defining chapter in our collective history in South Africa.  It offers all people space to celebrate the achievements and reflect on the journey we have taken from the dark days of denialism and calls to "Break the Silence" at AIDS2000, to having the largest HIV treatment programme in the world,” says project director, info4africa’s Debbie Heustice.

Make a Plan: 

Possibility and Empowerment in a Time of AIDS

South African Voices: Thursday 21 July at 6.30pm

David Patient and partner Neil Orr will be launching their eighth book: Make a Plan: Possibility and Empowerment in a Time of AIDS, in Durban on Thursday 21 July as one of the events which form part of the opening season of South African Voices: Towards a Museum of HIV Memory and Learning at KwaMuhle Museum.

David Patient is well known throughout southern Africa for education and wellness programmes addressing HIV and AIDS. His work with partner Neil Orr has gone beyond teaching people how to get and stay healthy. Through personal interface and eight books, Patient and Orr have taught millions that the path to long-term health is travelled best through living a life of purpose and meaning. Positive Health has sold 20 million copies. They have trained tens of thousands in workshops and reached millions through popular broadcast media programmes. 

David’s personal story also features in South African Voices: Towards a Museum of HIV Memory and Learning. Also available will be the seventh revised edition of their best seller, Positive Health.

In My Own Voice

Playhouse Opera: 21 – 24 July   

In My Own Voice, a courageous new musical by Musa Njoko chronicling her challenges of living with and surviving HIV Aids for 22 years, is to be staged in the Playhouse Opera theatre in Durban. Presented by Musa Njoko Music and Entertainment in association with the Playhouse Company, and supported by Ethekwini Municipality, the production runs from 21 – 24 July.   

Veteran AIDS Activist Musa Njoko who in 1994 was one of the first people to consciously and publicly disclose her HIV status, has crafted an original musical theatre production which chronicles her astonishing life. In her production, In My Own Voice, she shares her triumphs and challenging personal journey as one of the country’s earliest AIDS activists. 

Show times for In My Own Voice in the Playhouse Opera Theatre are at 7pm on Thursday and Friday, 21 and 22 July, at 3pm and 7pm on Saturday 23 July, with a final matinee performance on Sunday 24 July at 3pm. Tickets are R120 per person (R60 pensioners and students). Booking is through Computicket outlets at branches of Shoprite Checkers, or telephonically on 0861 915 8000, or online at www.computicket.com. Alternatively, bookings can be made by callingthe Playhouse Box Office on 031-369 9540 or 031-369 9596 (office hours).

Music:

Kloof Musical Pops

St Agnes Church Hall, Kloof: Friday, 29 July

On Friday, 29 July, at St Agnes Auditorium in Kloof , the Rotary club of Kloof will present the Kloof Musical Pops. The first half of the programme will feature The KZN Youth Orchestra conducted by Lyk Temmingh performing symphonic greats such as Handel's La Rejouissance, Brahms' Hungarian Dance no 5, The Radetsky March, and some popular tunes such as Sway, Can't Take my eyes off you and  New York New York . 

The second half of the programme will get yourhands clapping and toes tapping as Platform Jazz puts a swing on the evening andpresents big band greats such as Mack the Knife, What a wonderful world and In the Mood . Led by Cathy “Hotlips” Peacock, the band will also feature Melvin Peters, Bruce Baker, Duncan Wooldridge, Kirsten Sayers, Andreas Kappen, Jeff Judge and Shelley McLean.

The evening will start at 6.30pm and will be set up in supper theatre style for patrons to bring picnics and drinks. Ticket prices are R150 and R130 for pensioners and students. Booking is through Computicket. Proceeds of the evening will go to the 110 year old Kloof Rest Home which is in urgent need of repair.

Quark: Friday 15 July

Alliance Française de Durban Activities: Fri 15 July  
The Alliance Française will also be hosting Quark on Friday 15 July at 7pm. Quark is collaboration between two musicians from very different backgrounds, Fiona Tozer (guitar) and Dan Wilson (bass). The duo will be bringing the Jazz and Folk genres together to create an eclectic sound with lyrical content relating to the story of the human race and its place in the cosmos Quark is a unique experience that will leave you wanting more. 

For more info: Alliance Française de Durban : 22 Sutton Crescent, Corner Lilian Ngoyi (Windermere) Road, Morningside / Tel : 031 312 9582 / Contact Denise (Administrator) at afdbn@global.co.za or Frédérique (Course Coordinator) at courses.afdbn@alliance.org.za
Website: http://www.alliance.org.za/durban/

Rowan Stuart embarks on national Winter Tour

In association with Concerts SA, Durban's Soul Folk singer-songwriter-guitarist Rowan Stuart will be embarking on a multi-province tour this month, with performances in Gauteng, the Free State, the Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, joined by Andy Turrell on bass guitar.

Rowan has created an inimitable brand of Soul Folk music, with pop and world influences. Recalling Sting's imaginative storytelling, Death Cab for Cutie's sense of space and beauty, and John Mayer's tight grooves, Rowan uses his notable prowess on the guitar as the foundation for his creativity.

Artist Links

Website: www.rowanstuart.com

Reverbnation: www.reverbnation.com/rowanstuart

YouTube: www.youtube.com/rowanstuartvideo  

Facebook: www.facebook.com/rowanstuartmusic  

iTunes: www.itunes.com/rowanstuart  

Instagram: www.instagram.com/rowanstuartmusic  

Events Listing

Port Shepstone – South Coast Lions Show

Friday 15 July – 6pm –R50 (adults) / R25 (under 18’s and pensioners) / Free (under 12’s)

Address: Port Shepstone Country Club, Old Saint Faiths Rd

Bookings: lionsshow@sheppielions.co.za / 083 301 2883

Community:

Get Involved: IBV Children’s VIP Day

Durban Exhibition Centre: 13 August

The seventh annual Children’s VIP Day hosted by the International Bank Vaults at the Durban Exhibition Centre on Saturday 13 August. The special day invites over 3,000 less privileged children from Durban and surrounds to the DEC where they will be treated to a day of interactive fun, treats, games and pampering in the company of sports stars and entertainment celebrities as part of IBV, through their IBV Humanities Division. 

The organisers are encouraging businesses of all sizes to get involved, donate! If it is stock or even your time, there are 3,000 children that will truly appreciate it! A little will sincerely go a long way! They are setting up book and stationary drop off stations so members of the public can donate their learning materials, books etc. The two venues will be IBV International Vaults at Gateway and at the Pavilion Hotel near North Beach.

To get involved, contact Shivani Gosai on 031 566 3984 / shivani@ibvglobal.com.

For more info: Visit www.ibvinternationalvaults.com. Or watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tToRlHdYW9s

Art:

There Are Places I Remember

Durban Art Gallery: now open

There Are Places I Remember (Hidden memory: Places of our city) is an exhibition art project between the sister cities Bremen/Germany and Durban/South Africa

Working with the subject of art and memory, 11 visual artists from Bremen focus on places in Bremen, each of which –apart from the tourist attractions in the city– has a special meaning for the corresponding artist. The involved artists had previously taken part in various ways in the Culture-Exchange project The Designing of the Concordia Tunnel 2012 realized between the two cities. The artists’ work on the theme by utilizing various media: painting, photography, printing, installation, collage and video. The results are on currently on an exhibition at the Durban Art Gallery. 

Supper Theatre / Musical Revues:

All of Me

Rhumbelow Durban: 15, 16, 17 July

A show with Melanie Roberts in her inimitable diva style. Shemual Mahabeer on piano. At last! Melanie performs her first ever solo show in 33 years of being in showbiz. 4 countries, 200 shows some devised and written by herself and over 400 corporates has brought her to now...go solo.

A kaleidescope of songs from the 40's to now, combined with her cabaret and musical theatre songs and into the pot an array of styles from pop to swing, jazz to ballads.....all woven together with her irreverent wit, conversations with the audience and anecdotes from 33 years of performing.  Expect to hear Elton John, Billy Joel, Elvis, Ed Sheeran, Gloria Gaynor, Turner, Bruno Mars, George Gershwin, Sting, Carpenters, Ella Fitzgerald, Carole King, James Brown, Cole Porter, Beatles....and much more.  

Gowns are by Karen Monk Klijnstra and hair by Faye @ Hoi Polloi. Book at Computicket or phone or email Roland for bookings. Email : roland@stansell.za.net / events.durbantheatre.com / Cell 0824998636.

Clive Scott in Warts and All

Rhumbelow Durban: 22, 23, 24 July

Clive Scott has always made people laugh, whether it was as Ted Dixon (aka “Hey Stupid!”) in The Villagers and Isidingo or in his various roles in “Oh George”, “Life Begins at 40”, “The John Ross Story” and “River Horse Lake”. You just have to look at him…

Now, this beloved South African veteran of stage and screen has gathered all his experience, wisdom, funniness and poignancy to bring you a one-man show encompassing all of it. 

Clive Scott stars in his autobiographical one man show, Warts and All, An iconictribute to some of South Africa’s best loved theatre moments, you had better bring the tissues – for the tears of laughter that are sure to roll.

Friday 22 – Sun 24 July. R 140-00 a ticket; Bring food picnic baskets; Discounts R 120-00 a ticket. Pensioners & Block Bookings 8 or more; Bar Available;  Book at Computicket or Phone or email Roland for bookings Cell 0824998636 / email roland@stansell.za.net /    events.durbantheatre.com.

Magical Mayhem

Rhumbelow Durban: 29, 30, 31 July

The South African Magical Society (S.A.M.S.) hosts its annual showcase highlighting the best of Durban’s magical talent. The show, titled Magical Mayhem has many brand new facets for patrons to enjoy. The show’s producer, Ricki Gray, already no stranger to Durban audiences, explains that the family friendly show is designed to attract audiences that have enjoyed previous shows hosted by S.A.M.S. as well as attract new audiences. “There are many new surprises in store,” explains Ricki. “For example, this year Roland Stansell, long-time member of the magical society, is hosting the show as Grand Panto Dame, Miss Direction.”

The show will feature both amateur and professional magicians and will include a variety of magical acts, from illusions to cards and from mentalism to comedy. By popular demand, once again, magicians will not only be performing on stage, but at the tables. This style of magic, called close-up or intimate magic will allow audiences to experience magic like never before; up close and personal.

R 140-00 a ticket; Pensioners and Block Bookings (8 or more) R 120-00;  Children (under 13) R 70-00

Bring food picnic baskets; Burgers & Chips etc on Sale; Bar Available;  Book at Computicket or Phone or email Roland for bookings Cell 0824998636 / email roland@stansell.za.net /    events.durbantheatre.com.

Ends

PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE ON REQUEST & FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Publicity Matters or visit www.pubmat.co.za

Information correct at time of distribution

Illa Thompson
Publicity Matters

arts, theatre, culture, festival, social justice, sports and events publicists

tel / fax 031 201 1638
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illa@pubmat.co.za

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Maritzburg SPAR Women’s 10 / 5km Pietermaritzburg: Sunday 7 August

Maritzburg SPAR Women’s 10 / 5km Pietermaritzburg: Sunday 7 August

The running of the Maritzburg leg of South Africa’s Most Beautiful Race will be taking to the roads of the KZN capital on Sunday 7 August for the annual SPAR Women’s 10/5km. 

Settling back into its usual winter date, the race will have a field of green flowing along the roads in and around The Oval where an expected 4,000 athletes will be taking the challenge of the two distances. The event is the biggest women’s athletic event and second biggest annual road running event to take place in the city aside from the Comrades Marathon. 

Both the routes will remain unchanged, with the start line set adjacent to Maritzburg College’s main rugby field, Goldstones, and the finish line in The Oval cricket stadium. 

Both races will start at 8.00am after the playing of the National Anthem. The 10km and 5km participants will set off together with the first half of the race looping around the outskirt of the CBD, with the 5km race turning into The Oval and the 10km athletes doing another loop around the schools’ precinct, before returning back to The Oval. 

A strong field of local runners is expected to compete this year with the defending champ, Tebogo Masehla rumoured to be back. The big names in this year’s SPAR Grand Prix will be flying the South African flag at the Rio Olympics which leaves a win and the R8,000 winner’s purse open to the remaining local contenders. 

Entries are open, with two options to enter. The first is online at www.sparwomensrace.co.za where you can either pay by Credit Card or by EFT. The second option is a Manual Entry at Race Registration on Friday 5 August and Saturday 6 August at The Oval cricket stadium in Alexandra Park. Companies, running clubs and groups of 10 or more can enter through the Bulk Entries option, simply email bulk@sparwomensrace.co.za for more information. 

Entries to the 10km distance are open from age 14 and to the 5km from age 9, the age restrictions being applicable on the day of the competition. Entry fees are R90 for the 10km licensed athletes and for the 5km runners. The entry fee for the Non-licensed athletes is R100; the extra R10 includes a temporary licence for the day. 

Once again the official race charity is CHOC (The Childhood Cancer Foundation) and R2 from every entry will be donated to them.

For more info contact the race organisers on maritzburg@sparwomensrace.co.za or visit the official race on www.sparwomensrace.co.za or like the Facebook page.

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SPAR KZN School Girls' Hockey Challenge on 23 and 24 July

SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge

Grand Finals at St Mary’s DSG: 23 & 24 July

With two weeks to go until the Grand Finals of the SPAR KZN School Girls’ Hockey Challenge, ten teams are hard at work preparing for the tournament on 23 and 24 July. 

The teams that have made it through to the Grand Finals, having won their regionals, are Amanzimtoti High School (Durban South); Ashton International College (Durban North); Durban Girls’ College (Durban Central); Grantleigh College (Northern Coastal); King Edward High School (Southern KZN); Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School (Pietermaritzburg Central); Sarel Cilliers (Newcastle); St Anne’s College (Pietermaritzburg North); St Mary’s DSG (Highway) and Wartburg Kirchdorf (Umvoti, uThukela and Umzinyathi).

“The fixtures for the finals have been consolidated into one venue i.e. St Mary’s DSG as opposed to two venues in previous years.” stated Tournament Director, Les Galloway.

Continuing, she said, “With only one venue being used, the vibe should be great with all the 10 teams being able to watch and support all matches and, together with all of their supporters, it should make for a very festive weekend!”

The finals will kick off with pool games on Saturday and cross pool games, play-offs and the medal games on Sunday. A new scoring system will be used to calculate positions on the logs. A win will be awarded four points, a draw with goals equates to two points, a goalless draw amounts to one point and a loss zero points. Pool games will be 20minutes long and the play-offs will be half an hour with a change of sides at fifteen minutes. 

In Pool A, defending champions Durban Girls’ College take on host school, St Mary’s DSG, newbies Sarel Cilliers High School, King Edward High School and Grantleigh High School. In Pool B, last year’s silver medalists Pietermaritzburg Girls’ High School make their sixth appearance and this year will take on St Anne’s DSG; Ashton International College; Amanzimtoti High School and Wartburg Kirchdorf High School. 

MD for SPAR KZN, Rob Philipson said, “We look forward to the finals this year, welcoming both old and new players and teams. We are in for a cracker of a weekend, with some high quality skills being expected on the turf. I would like to officially wish all teams, coaches and umpires the very best of luck for the big weekend!”

Umpires who have been invited to officiate are Angelique Kellerman; Ansie Joubert; Grant Bowles; Nuduzo Martin Mchunu; Sibu Ndlovu; Marie-Lee Visser; Michelle Cogle; Nonhlanhla Shezi; Pam Daniel and Xolani Majola.

The first game is St Mary’s vs Grantleigh, followed by two out of towners with King Edward High School taking on newcomers, Sarel Cilliers High School. 

For more info like the Facebook page.

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​Audience Choice Awards at the 37th Durban International Film Festival

Audience Choice Awards at the 37th Durban International Film Festival

The Durban International Film Festival (DIFF) has announced the Audience Choice Awards for the best DIFF film and the top Wavescape film at this year’s festival.

Under the DIFF banner, the film Nakom (Ghana/USA) took the honours. Directed by Kelly Daniela Norris and Trav Pittman, the feature tells a story of a Ghanaian medical student named Iddrisu, played by Jacob Ayanaba, whose life comes to a halt when his father dies unexpectedly. As the eldest son, he is called to return to his family homestead to bury his father, only to discover family tensions between his mother and his father’s 'junior' wife. The film shows a dramatic portrayal of the enduring conflict between the modern and the traditional in which Iddrisu wishes to move forward without betraying his upbringing Nakom has been described as a window into a culture and language rarely shown on screen.

The Icelandic film No Country For Cold Men won the audience choice award in the Wavescape Surf Film Festival at the DIFF. Directed by Ryan Mattick, the film is based on a kneeboarder, bodyboarder and surfer who go on a surf trip to break free of the conflict among their ilk. The film challenges the notion of harmony in a humorous manner while taking a closer look at the surf society. 

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