Applications are now open for the Realness Pan African Scriptwriting Residency 2017

Media Release

APPLICATIONS ARE NOW OPEN FOR THE REALNESS PAN AFRICAN SCRIPTWRITING RESIDENCY 2017

Following the success of the inaugural scriptwriting residency, Realness is thrilled to announce the call for submissions for the 2017 edition.

Realness is a pioneering residency that provides filmmakers with the opportunity to hone and develop their creative scriptwriting skills. It serves to address the need for promising African film projects to be supported in their development phase to be able to realistically compete in global film markets.

This year five filmmakers - Amirah Tajdin (Kenya), Hiwot Admasu (Ethiopia) Luck Razanajaona (Madagascar), Sheetal Magan (South Africa) and Wim Steytler (South Africa) spent six weeks at the Nirox Artists’ Residency in the Cradle of Humankind under the mentorship of script consultants Selina Ukwuoma and Nadja Dumouchel, including attending the Durban FilmMart and Talent Campus at the Durban International Film Festival. 

“The success of this residency is not only evident in the encouraging feedback from the participants, who welcomed the opportunity to be in a quiet headspace to tap into their creative sources, but it is also evident in the numerous awards they have received and the progress made following the residency,” explains Elias Ribeiro, Creative Director of Realness. “Luck, for example, had a project selected for the Durban FilmMart prior to the residency, where we met and worked with participants as a precursor to programme. Here he walked off with awards from CineMart (International Film Festival Rotterdam) and the International Organisation of La Francophonie to further develop his script. Hiwot has since won an award to participate at another residency programme in Switzerland the Internationale Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, and two of the projects have signed co-production agreements since completing the residency.”

As a result of the Realness programme, Ribeiro has,been invited to present the initiative at five major international festivals since starting it earlier this year, namely Berlinale, Cannes, Locarno, Venice and Torino. “The continued interest is very encouraging and serves as a platform for the residents to maintain the momentum towards getting their films made. We have structured Realness in a very holistic and strategic way, engaging with heavy-weight partners and advisors in developing the framework for the programme. It is rewarding to see the genuine interest in developing synergy between African cinema and the rest of the world.”

Amirah Tajdin said “Realness made me realize that…time and space really does make all the difference during script writing.” Wim Steytler said that Realness gave him the courage to “throw my script and 8 months of work into the bin. I gained important insights into how to take my story from decent to good. After Realness my goal is to take the project from good to great.”

Realness is proud to announce that the partnerships established in 2016 will continue into the second edition, which means that the 2017 residents will also have the opportunity to further develop their projects through the awards offered by the Durban FilmMart, Locarno Filmmakers Academy, Torino Film Lab, Midpoint, EAVE and La Fabrique des Cinema du Monde.

The submission window opens on 28 November 2016 and closes on 31 January 2017:

Applicants must submit ONE PDF dossier containing:

• a motivation for wanting to participate in REALNESS (1 page)

• a synopsis of the proposed feature project (1 page)

• a narrative treatment of the proposed feature project (6 pages)

• a draft of the screenplay (if available)

• a writer's note of intention (1 page)

• a short biography (1 paragraph)

• two links to samples of previously produced work, uploaded to vimeo. If selected, residents will be required to donate one copy of their previous work to the Nirox film library.

The call is open to screenwriters from across the African continent and selection will be based on artistic merit. REALNESS will hold no legal claim over the work once the residency is completed.

All submitted material must be in English. A committee appointed by the Realness team and their partners will read the project entries and conduct interviews with a shortlist of candidates in April. The REALNESS selection will be announced at an event hosted by the pavilion Les Cinemas du Monde in Cannes, 2017.

Dossiers must be submitted to realness@urucumedia.com. For further information and to download the application form go to www.urucumedia.com/realness.

Independent cinemas extend the run of award-winning film - Train of Salt and Sugar in Cape Town and Johannesburg

Media Release

Independent cinemas extend the run of award-winning film - Train of Salt and Sugar in Cape Town and Johannesburg

Train of Salt and Sugar, recent winner of the Best Film award at the Joburg Film Festival, has had its run extended at local independent cinemas in Johannesburg and Cape Town.

The Mozambican film directed by Licínio Azevedo, is set in the civil-war-torn northern Mozambique during the late 80’s has received critical acclaim since premiering in August this year at Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The City Press’s film critic Charl Blignaut described the film as “a superb, gritty, mystical, African love story”.

A selected project at the 2014 Durban FilmMart, the film has been produced by Ukbar Filmes (Portugal), Ébano Multimédia (Mozambique), Les Films de l’Étranger (France), Panda Filmes (Brazil), and new-wave South African company Urucu Media with the support of M-Net and M-Net’s Portuguese channel Jango Magic in Africa.  M-Net will screen the film on Jango in 2017.

The film’s run has been extended at the Bioscope in Johannesburg until the end of December this year, and at The Labia in Cape Town until December 2.

For screening details go to www.thebioscope.co.za  or www.thelabia.co.za

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CAPTION: Artworks created by 2015 Velobala Art Class attendee Zakhele Hlabisa:  Amandla Okudla_Strength from food, Acrylic on canvas, 45.5 cm h x 56 cm w,

Next week’s annual Jazz Jol is going BIG - Durban, South Africa

Next week’s annual Jazz Jol is going BIG

The Centre for Jazz and Popular Music at the University of KwaZulu-Natal presents its 28th Jazz Jol on Wednesday, November 30 at 6pm.

The annual Jazz Jol, has become something of a legendary year-end celebration for music-lovers, with proceeds going to the Ronnie Madonsela Scholarship that assists disadvantaged jazz students at UKZN with financial aid or support. This year the Jol features student ensemble Nyimbo ya Bantu, the recently launched UKZN Big Band, the UKZN Trebles - a vocal group featuring UKZN Voice students, as well as a selection of students that have featured in the Centre’s showcases throughout the year.

Nyimbo ya Bantu, which means “people's song” in a blend of kiSwahili and isiZulu, is comprised of junior and senior jazz studies students from UKZN’s music discipline within the School of the Arts: Tseleng Mokhatla on flute, Ildo Nandja on double/electric bass and vocals, Nic Pitman on guitar, Zibusiso Makhathini on piano and Riley Giandhari on drums.

The ensemble’s repertoire mixes original compositions influenced by classic jazz, afro jazz and world music, with South African jazz standards and music by local artists from KwaZulu Natal. At the Jazz Jol they will perform, amongst other pieces, Rachel, composed by Pitman; Metamorphosis, composed and arranged by Nandja; End Times by Giandhari and Spirit of the Messenger by Makhathini. Audiences can also expect a cover composed by renowned South African pianist Bheki Mseleku. Nyimbo ya Bantu has performed at the Grahamstown Standard Bank Youth Jazz Festival, the Oslo Jazz Festival in Norway as part of the Nordic showcase and performs regularly at the Chairman in Durban.

“Audiences should expect a high quality musical performance with a fresh blending of traditional classic jazz with contemporary sounds of African and world music,” says Nyimbo ya Bantu’s band leader Nandja.

Directed by Burton Naidoo, the UKZN Big Band which was launched in June this year features a line-up of top talent - pianists Abigail Giddings and Jaedon Daniel, bassist Llewelyn Chetty, drummer Riley Giandhari, trumpeters, Siyanda Zulu, Sanele Qwabe, Phuti Mofokeng, and Talente Mhlongo, guitarist Kaylin Naidoo, Snothile Mkhize on clarinet, alto saxophonists Nwabisa Kheswa, Simone van Niekerk, Tim Lewis and Phumlani Mtiti, Tenor saxophonist Bonginkosi Mkhize and Trombonists Thembinkosi Khumalo, Mokgethisi Nkotsi, Tseleng Makhatla (flute) with Special guests Prof Salim Washington (tenor saxophone), Prof Mike Rossi from South African College of Music, University of Cape Town and George Mari (trumpet).

The Band will play a selection of favourites from their repertoire including standards such as Moten Swing by Buster Morten and two songs by living legend Ndikho Xaba arranged by John Kordalewski - Mad Mad and Nomusa.

“We are particularly excited by the band’s selection of music,” says Neil Gonsalves, Director for the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music, “John Kordalewski and Bab’ Ndikho Xaba, the great KZN pianist and struggle stalwart, met in the late 1970’s while Bab’ Ndikho was living in USA Washington DC. It was here that he mentored John. In 2014, John came to see Bab’ Ndikho and spending time at the keyboard together in his house led to the idea of writing arrangements of Baba’s music to preserve his cultural legacy. John wanted to create a unique combination of the “big band” sounds and colours with South African fundamentals that are in Xaba’s compositions. They eventually recorded a few ideas, which John uses as a reference for his arrangements. John worked with the UKZN Big band in September, and is excited to present his arrangements of these works with these talented musicians.”

The Ronnie Madonsela Scholarship also provides bursaries for deserving students and also funds students’ travel visas for overseas trips, as well as national travel and accommodation to the National Youth Jazz Festival in Grahamstown and other educational festivals, workshops and conferences.

The Jazz Jol takes place at The Centre for Jazz and Popular music (CJPM), Level 2, Shepstone Building at UKZN Howard College Campus. Tickets are R120, pensioners R80, and students R60 at the door. For more details contact Thuli Zama on 031 260 3385 or email Zamat1@ukzn.ac.za

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Action in Autism’s Year End Social

Media Release

Action in Autism’s Year End Social

Action in Autism is hosting its annual Year End Social on Saturday, 3 December from 10am to 2pm at the George Campbell School Grounds. This event is free to all people with autism and their families and there will be snacks and refreshments, a jumping castle, fun and games for all.

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.

Anyone wishing to attend this social, to make a donation to help cover costs or for more information about Action in Autism,  can call 031 2074858, or email info@actioninautism.org.za.  The webiste address is www.actioninautism.org.za for more info on the organisation.

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Durban's Flatfoot Dance Company performs at Goree Island Diaspora Festival, Senegal in November 2016

MEDIA RELEASE

FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY

performs, as a special envoy of the National Arts Council of South Africa, at the prestigious GOREE ISLAND DIASPORA FESTIVAL (Dakar, Senegal)

25 – 27 November 2016

Durban’s acclaimed contemporary dance company, FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY, is one of four companies invited by the National Arts Council of South Africa to represent South Africa in Senegal at the prestigious Goree Island Diaspora Festival at the end of this month.

FLATFOOT is one of two dance companies to get the invite and will be presenting a double bill (titled “Southern Exposure”) of choreographer (and artistic director) Lliane Loot’s recent dance works. Over 2016 Loots has presented two linked dance works that have dealt with hard-hitting themes around displacement, migrations and refugees. The first titled “HOMELAND (security)” was presented in April at the Sneddon Theatre and looks into issues of identity from the pain of the global refugee crisis that sees millions of people (mostly from developing contexts like Africa) forced to leave or evacuated their homes due to war, and political and social disasters.

In this highly praised work, Loots and the FLATFOOT dancers respond to false notion of belonging to a nation state and of feeling safe at ‘home’. With a deep resonance towards the pain of South Africa’s own xenophobia and continued racism, Loots’s “HOMELAND (security)” begins to claim back the internal safety of a resistant (dancing) self that seeks community.  

The second work, “MIGRATIONS (at the feet of Kali)” sees FLATFOOT collaborate with spoken word poet Iain ewok Robinson and classical Indian Kathak dancer Manesh Maharaj. Bordering on performance installation, this dance theatre works is physical journey into the heart of colonial and post-colonial rememberings around the violent movements/migrations of people. Using personal memory as the starting point, this work interfaces with the confluence of colonial Indian and South African histories and sees the meeting of spoken word, African contemporary dance, classical Indian Kathak dance and video installations.  This work premiered at the 2016 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Festival in September this year.

Loots says; “Given that the 8th Edition of this Goree Island Diaspora Festival is themed “MEMORY AND RESILIENCE,’’ from the past to the present, how can we heal the divides in human society?”, FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY’s dance work is perfectly situated to sit in the framework of the festival and add to the artistic debates around issues of memory, resilience, home and the myriad identities of South Africans (and Africans)”.

She adds, “We are thrilled to be going. Not only to share our work on our own continent but to take dance work that means something to us and to the lives of African bodies that must speak”.

Goree Island, like its twin Robben Island, is a site of memory and history for Senegal and was used as a slave outpost during the colonial era. The island has been turned into a museum and visitors can walk through slave holding cells and walk through the “door of no return” – the infamous door that saw slaves loaded onto ships bound for Europe. The festival brings together various African artist each year in a festival that allows for collective healing.

FLATFOOT dancer Sifiso Khumalo says; “this is a big one for us – not only to walk the history of Goree Island and our West African brothers and sisters but it is also a time to remember that our art is a weapon for remembering. I cannot wait to dance and speak the truth of our South African bodies in Senegal."

“We leave Durban on 24 November and while this is not a sports tour, we are looking at this as the “team South Africa” in a spirit of letting our cultural ambassadors feel as significant as our sporting ones?” says Loots.

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Caption to Photos by VAL ADAMSON

0381: FLATFOOT dancers with Tshediso Kabulu in front and at the back Njabulu Zungu, Jabu Siphika, Sifiso Khumalo, Zinhle Nzama and Kim Mccusker-Bartlett in Loots’s critically acclaimed “HOMELAND (security)” that will travel to Dakar, Senegal in November.

0418: FLATFOOT dancers Zinhle Nzama on left, Kim Mccusker-Bartlett being lifted and in order front to back Tshediso Kabulu, Jabu Siphika and Sifiso Khumalo in Loots’s critically acclaimed “HOMELAND (security)” that will travel to Dakar, Senegal in November.

0495: FLATFOOT dancers Sifiso Khumalo on the floor, back couple on left Najbulo Zungu and Zinhle Nzama, back couple on rightKim Mccusker-Bartlett and Tshediso Kabulu in Loots’s critically acclaimed “HOMELAND (security)” that will travel to Dakar, Senegal in November.

Train of Salt and Sugar – wins Best Film at Joburg Film Festival

Media Release

Train of Salt and Sugar – wins Best Film at Joburg Film Festival

The Mozambiquan Train of Salt and Sugar directed by Licínio Azevedo, which had its African premiere in competition at the Joburg Film Festival won the Festival’s inaugural Best Film Award on Saturday. This follows its Independent Italian Critics Award (Boccalini d’Ouro) for Best Film at the Locarno Film Festival at the Piazza Grande in Locarno, Switzerland in August this year.

Train of Salt and Sugar, which is due for a two week independent release in Johannesburg and Cape Town next week, is set in the civil-war-torn northern Mozambique during the late 80’s. It has been hailed by some critics as the first “great African Western”.

The film has been produced by Ukbar Filmes (Portugal), Ébano Multimédia (Mozambique), Les Films de l’Étranger (France), Panda Filmes (Brazil), and avant-garde South African company Urucu Media with the support of M-Net and M-Net’s Portuguese channel Jango Magic in Africa.

“We are completely overwhelmed by this fantastic acknowledgement,” says Elias Ribeiro of Urucu Media. “This movie has been an incredible labour of love for all of us. This harrowing story based on true facts revealed such fascinating complexities of the human lot and mixed with a dose of magic realism, the director has managed to capture the imagination of audiences to provide us with a riveting story that engages and fascinates. Thanks to the Joburg Film Festival for providing us with the opportunity to present this film at its first edition.”

Train of Salt and Sugar, a selected project at the 2014 Durban FilmMart, will have a  short theatrical release in Johannesburgand Cape Town from the 11th of November for two weeks only. Joburg screenings will be at the Bioscope, check their website for schedule (www.thebioscope.co.za), and in Cape Town at the Labia with a daily screening at 6:15 pm.

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Juego Flamenco 8-11 December 2016

Juego Flamenco - 8-11 December 2016

Centre for Jazz and Popular Music on the UKZN’s Howard College Campus

The Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company in collaboration with jazz musicians Neil Gonsalves (piano), Demi Fernandez (jazz/flamenco guitar) once again take to the intimate venue of UKZN’s Jazz Centre to present Juego Flamenco, the latest instalment  in what is now an annual treat for Durban audiences from these well-respected performers.

Having previously explored the fusion between flamenco and Jazz, Arabic, Indian Kathak, Celtic, and South American styles; Juego Flamenco, meaning ‘flamenco game,’ is a playful blend of these musical and movement styles whilst still embracing the flamenco essence.  Featuring pulsating rhythms and exhilarating music and dance, Juega Flamenco will provide audiences with yet another feast for the senses. There are only 4 performances once again, which usually sell out very quickly, so book early to avoid this treat not to be missed!

Backed by Demi Fernandez and Neil Gonsalves, these world renowned musicians in their own right present new compositions alongside the dance. Their unique style and talent continue to leave audiences spellbound. They are joined by Bryan Stone on percussion who will also add live singing, alongside Gemma Schumann – who made her singing debut as a highlight in last year’s show.

Linda Vargas is the founder and director of the Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company. She has choreographed numerous flamenco dance productions as well as the opera productions La Traviata, Amal, Faust, Salome and Carmen. Linda co-founded the international organization Alianza Flamenca and is a member of its Board of Directors, as well as its panel of international examiners. She currently lectures at UKZN and performs, examines and conducts educational and corporate workshops both nationally and internationally. Her educational dance workshops in schools and for NAPTOSA assist teachers to incorporate dance in the formal school curriculum. Linda holds a Masters Degree in Education as well as B.A. Honours in Drama, LISTD and Final Diploma (ISTD, London).

Neil Gonsalves holds a Masters degree in Music and currently lectures at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He has performed in various national music festivals with numerous South Africa jazz and Afro-beat luminaries as well as his own band, Tonk. He has also toured internationally, including a 4 year stint as part of Johnny Clegg’s band. He has released a solo album “North Facing” which represents a blend of modern South African and Nordic Jazz.

Demi Fernandez was born in Brazil of Spanish Parents and spent many years living and performing in Flamenco Tablaos in Spain. Demi has also appeared as leading flamenco guitarist with numerous South African and international Spanish Dance Companies.  He is resident guitarist for the Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company and AlianzaFlamenca. He has composed musical scores for several SABC TV productions and also appeared in numerous productions including “Guitars for Africa” in Durban and at the Grahamstown National Arts Festival. He currently lectures in the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Jazz programme.

Juego Flamenco runs at the Centre for Jazz and Popular Music on the UKZN’s Howard College campus from 8-11 December. Performances are nightly at 7pm and on Sunday the 11 December at 3pm. Entrance Fee is R130 (R100 students / pensioners). Bookings through Linda on: lindavargasflamenco@gmail.com (please note new email address) or 031-201 0750 (mornings only). Tickets are limited for each performance so advanced booking is advised to avoid disappointment.

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Issued by Wesley Maherry

on behalf of the Linda Vargas Flamenco Dance Company             

maherry@ukzn.ac.za

+27 82 950 8188

African Art Centre – Christmas Exhibition - Florida Road, Durban

Media Release

African Art Centre – Christmas Exhibition - Florida Road

The African Art Centre will be opening its annual Christmas Exhibition on Thursday, 11 November 2016. This year’s exhibition, titled “An African Christmas”, will feature a wide range of affordable handcrafted beaded, wood carved, telephone wire and embroidered ornaments produced by artists and crafters from the KwaZulu-Natal region.   

Since its inception in 1959, one of the Centre’s core objectives has been to facilitate development projects to enhance the creative skills of our crafters and artists. The new direction of the Centre to make our craft more contemporary but keeping the African aesthetic has become the focus of the development project which was the precursor to the 2016 Christmas exhibition.  It was decided that this year’s new design theme “An African Christmas” would break away from the traditional Christmas look and will draw inspiration from contemporary vibrant African textile designs.

Crafters who have contributed towards the exhibition inlcude Happiness Dladla, Dumsile Mathe, Thokozane Mathe, Ntombi Mbambo, Mavis Jali, Nqobile Jeza, Tholani Mchunu, Ntombizonke Hlambisa, Maningi Mbonambi, Hlengiwe Mbhele, Mbaliyethu Mabuza, Ntokozo Mseleku, Sphindile Nkosi, Widus Mtshali, Sibusiso Gumede, Bheki Mkhumbuzi, Sibusiso Maphumulo, Phumlani Mbhele, Jabulani Mkhize and Vincent Tshulupi.

“An African Christmas” will be opened by celebrated South African composer and performer Sazi Dlamini.

The public is invited to enter the festive season in a proudly South African style and to support local craft producers exhibiting at “An African Christmas” exhibition.

The exhibition will be open on Thursday, 11 November 2016.  For additional information contact the African Art Centre on 031 303 4634, or visit at 94 Florida Road, Morningside.

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Action in Autism Skills Transference Workshop - Oct 21 and 22

Media Release

Action in Autism Skills Transference Workshop

Action in Autism will hold a Skills Transference Workshop on Friday 21 October and Saturday 22 October, at the Moth Hall, King Dinizulu Hospital in Durban.

Some of the greatest challenges for autistic people is verbal and non-verbal communication, sensory processing difficulties and the demands of social interaction.  In an ever changing fast paced social world, it is tough for autistic people to feel embraced and supported.   

Action in Autism, a non-profit organisation based in Sydenham, supports this community by providing a highly-intensive 2-day workshop for parents, educators, professionals and those who interact regularly with autistic people. These workshops offer skills, techniques and supports for communication, social interaction, sensory processing challenges and informs and explains the reasons for some of the behavioural challenges experienced by autistic people. These supportive strategies will enable autistic people to better navigate the world they live in and empower people with best practice skills in supporting them. 

Hosted bi-annually by a team of six professionals, a parent and a young adult with autism, the workshop includes both theoretical and practical components, as well as opportunities for networking. The team of professionals comprises of a clinical psychologist, educational psychologist, a speech therapist and a specialist in augmentative and alternative communication systems, an occupational therapist, and an educator.

All parents, professionals and those that support autistic people are invited to join Action in Autism’s next Workshop on Friday 21 October and Saturday 22 October, to be held at the Moth Hall, King Dinizulu Hospital in Durban. The workshop cost of R850 per person covers course materials, refreshments and meals. All parents who cannot afford the costs are sponsored by the organisation.  Please contact the Action in Autism office on 031 207 4858 or send an email to info@actioninautism.org.za for a registration form. Places are limited to 40 people per workshop.

For more information about Action in Autism, the Skills Transference Workshops, or other services and support offered by the organisation, please call 031 207 4858 or email info@actioninautism.org.za.

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Train of Salt and Sugar – a film by Licínio Azevedo for Joburg Film Festival

Media Release

Train of Salt and Sugar – a film by Licínio Azevedo for Joburg Film Festival

 In a harrowing revelation of a particular time and place, comes a universal story of mankind’s extraordinary collective ability to survive and press-on against all odds.  This is the latest film by celebrated Brazilian-born, Mozambiquan-based auteur Licínio Azevedo: Train of Salt and Sugar which will have its African premiere in Competition at the Joburg Film Festival on October 29, 2016.

Set in the civil-war-torn northern Mozambique during the late 80’s, the film has been hailed by some critics as the first “great African Western”, when it premiered in August this year on the 300-square metre screen in at the Locarno Film Festival at the Piazza Grande in Switzerland to a crowd of more than 7000 people. The film won the Independent Italian Critics Award (Boccalini d’Ouro) there for Best Film.

With script by the director together with Teresa Pereira, adapted from the book of the same name written by Azevedo, the story unfolds in Mozambique in the midst of civil war. A single train connects Nampula in Mozambique to Malawi. No civilians are allowed and yet hundreds risk their lives through 700km of sabotaged tracks. Salomão and Taiar are two soldiers who don’t get along. Rosa is a young nurse on her way to her first job, who soon becomes an object of desire. Mariamu, her close friend, only hopes to trade salt for sugar. Amongst bullets and laughter, life goes on and stories unfold as the train advances under attack, ever so slowly, towards the next stop.

“I was in Cuamba, the capital of the province of Niassa in the north, the last train stop before the border to Malawi, its final destination,” says Azevedo.  “The city was isolated from the rest of the country by road. The train’s arrivals got increasingly spaced in time and a large crowd would gather in the station to meet them. I had the chance to see one of the arrivals and see the terrible state of those who disembarked, weeks after starting the journey in which they risked their lives.”

“I was interested in the people that travelled on this train taking salt from the coast to exchange for sugar in Malawi. Then they returned to Mozambique and sold the sugar. This was to support their families. But is was a hellish journey.”

Produced by Ukbar Filmes (Portugal), Ébano Multimédia (Mozambique), Les Films de l’Étranger (France), Panda Filmes (Brazil), and avant-garde South African company Urucu Media with the support of M-Net and M-Net’s Portuguese channel Jango Magic in Africa. Internationally the film won production awards from Ibermedia, CNC, Fundo Setorial, Euroimages to name a few. Urucu Media previously produced best South African Film Award winner at DIFF, Necktie Youth by Sibs Shongwe La-Mer in 2015 and will release in early 2017 the anticipated feature debut by John Trengove The Wound, which won two awards at the Venice Film Festival for work-in-progress.

Train of Salt and Sugar was filmed in southern Mozambique and stars Matamba Joaquim as Taiar, Melanie de Vales Rafael as Rosa, Thiago Justino as Salomão, António Nipita as Sete Maneiras and Sabina Fonseca as Mariamu.

Getting permission from the government to film was not easy says Azevedo “The authorities finally gave us the go ahead when we had already started shooting. We were grateful that the Ministry of Defence, actually supported the production and ended up giving us thirty soldiers who trained our actors.”

The film, shot over 7 weeks on 13 wagons of a train, was a challenge for the production and creative team. Describing the process, Azevedo says “It was practical and infernal. It would have been impossible without the unconditional support from the Mozambican Railways. During the shooting, the sound engineer did an amazing job, sieged by the sounds of wheels creaking, the engine running… back then they couldn’t ever turn off the engine because if they did so, the engine wouldn’t start. That’s a little piece of realism we brought into the movie. The train’s cacophony is permanent, a fundamental sound track that was punctuated by Schwalbach with traditional African instruments, drums and using the mbira to punctuate the love scenes.”

Although the film is set in a specific period, South African producer Elias Ribeiro, of Urucu Media believes that it tells a story that speaks to many realities of conflict around world, and moves beyond its specific locale. “Its tangible tension, terrifying cruelty, yet inspiring and heart-warming humanness is what will speak to any audience across the world.”

Train of Salt and Sugar, which was a selected project at the 2014 Durban FilmMart, has it’s SA premiere at the Joburg Film Festival on 29 October at 4 pm. Entrance is free of charge on a first comes first basis at the iconic Alexander Theatre in Braamfontein. Melanie de Vales Rafael (Rosa), the director and Urucu Media team will be in attendance at the premiere in Johannesburg. It will play again at 4 pm on the 2nd and the 5th of November at Nouveau Rosebank as part of the festival, patrons will need to buy tickets for these screenings in Rosebank.

Following the festival run the film will have a limited theatrical release in Johannesburg  and Cape Town from the 11th of November for two weeks only. Joburg screenings will be at the Bioscope, check their website for schedule (www.thebioscope.co.za), and in Cape Town at the Labia with a daily screening at 6:15 pm.

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Sharlene Versfeld
Versfeld & Associates
Public Relations and Communications
Mobile: +27 (0) 83 326 3235
Tel: +27 (0) 31 811 5628
Post: P O Box 30547, Mayville, 4058
Email: sharlene@versfeld.co.za
Twitter: sharlvers
Website: www.versfeld.co.za

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.

Ends.

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.

-ends

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 

-ends

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. 

 -ends

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

-ends

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.

Ends.

Further information:

Kirsten Miller

ACTION IN AUTISM

031 207 4858/083 7774468

info@actioninautism.org.za