15th Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience

This year's festival is a delight of local and international dance theatre that has on show the best the world has to offer. Dancers from Holland, Switzerland, America, Portugal and France will be gracing the Jomba! stages alongside some of South Africa's most cutting-edge dance makers.

On the local front, Jomba! is very proud to be hosting the 2013 Standard Bank Young Artist award winner for dance, Fana Tshabalala. His new work, Indumba, premiered at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown. Working with his home dance company, Joburg-based Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative; Tshabalala's dance work is poetic encounter with African ritual and contemporary sensibility. Considered one of South Africa's most fluid and elegant dancers, Tshabalala's vision is a startling reminder of the confluence of style, form and African sensibility.

One of the gems of this years' festival is the collaboration between local Durban-based dancer and choreographer Desiré Davids, who joins forces with France-based Hélène Cathala in a soulful duet called B.L.E.N.D. These two experienced women artists, one coloured and South African, and one white and French, share the stage in a confrontation of their divergent histories. This drives them to really get to know one another but also, sometimes, drives them both into a void of personal and artistic incomprehension.

A number of firsts

On the international front, this edition of Jomba! has a number of firsts: this will be the first edition to host an American company, and in partnership with the US Consulate in Durban and the US Department of State's Arts Envoy Program, Jomba! will be hosting the Chicago-based company Deeply Rooted Dance Theatre. Deeply Rooted will spend two weeks in Durban and will be part of Jomba's extended dance education and development programme run in conjunction with Flatfoot Dance Company. Deeply Rooted will travel to Flatfoot's numerous dance programmes run in Umlazi, KwaMashu and Tugela Mouth. Over the two weeks, Deeply Rooted will share its dance skills and philosophy with over 600 KZN young dancers in an enriching cultural exchange.

Deeply Rooted's invitation to Jomba! will culminate in two performances on the closing nights of the festival on 7 and 8 September. In a style that oozes memory and the jazz history of the African American experience, Deeply Rooted will present choreography that threads together some of their key signature dance works. Its partnership with Flatfoot Dance Company will also have the six resident dancers of Flatfoot joining Deeply Rooted in their performances after having spent two weeks learning their repertoire and sharing styles and working methods.

Holland's magnificent Introdans

Another first for Jomba! 2013, and yet another coup de grace of the festival, and an unprecedented treat for ballet and neo-classical dance lovers, is the featuring of Holland's magnificent Introdans. World renowned for skill and virtuosity, Introdans bring a programme suitably titled "Superstars",which features five choreographies by five of Holland and Europe's most influential dance makers in the form of Anaphase by Ohad Naharin, Evening Songs by Jirí Kylián, Nacho Duato's Sinfonía India, Pas de Danse by Mats Ek and Polish Pieces by the Dutch Maestro Hans van Manen.

Europe's finest come to Jomba! in the form of, firstly, Portuguese dancer Francisco Camacho and his EIRA dance company. Camacho, performing on the opening night of Jomba!, brings a hard-hitting solo dance theatre work called "The King In Exile". Drawing its inspiration from the figure of Dom Manuel II, the last King of Portugal, this solo work is an exploration of contemporary political power that will no doubt speak to Africa. In this solo work, Camacho explores the transgressive power of the dancing body's ability to shift identities that are captured in the traps of history and representation.

Secondly, European finery comes in the form of Swiss duo T42. Made up of dancers Misato Inoue and Félix Duméril, their dance work is a confrontation with difference and the old ideas that European identity is singular. Misato's own Japanese roots become the starting point of much of T42's work and are the witty and sometimes ironic danced encounter between cultural misunderstanding. Known for their technical virtuosity and dexterity as contemporary dancers, T42's work has been singled out for its humour and for allowing space for laughter in battling the misunderstandings between East and West.

Another first for Jomba! 2013 is an event collaboration with Durban's artSPACE (durban) Gallery. Monday, 2 September is a one-off evening of site-specific dance work made for an audience who would like an up-close-and-personal encounter with dance. Featuring Musa Hlatshwayo and Vusi Makanya's latest local dance offerings, the evening also features a specifically created solo by T42's Swiss dancer Misato Inoue. Called "Swan", this work hints at Misato's Japanese Kabuki roots and is a very contemporary encounter with the dual nature of being ; the harking back to Swan Lake's infamous black and white swans and to a female body caught in oppositions. Also on view at the Jomba! @ artSPACE event , is a collection of award-winning short one-minute dance films from all over the globe curated by Jeannette Ginslov's ScreenDance Africa.

Jomba! Hosts its usual platforms of the Fringe (Sunday, 1 September) and the Youth Fringe (Saturday, 31 August). With over 60 entries for a 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 Wiggins Community Hall in Cato Manor/Umkhumbane and is a celebration of over 28 KZN-based youth dance groups and the incredible dance work that they are doing.

Workshops and master classes

Jomba! also offers a full programme of workshops and master classes by all of the participating dancer and choreographers. For a full listing, go to www.cca.ukzn.ac.za. These workshops and classes are offered free of charge but booking is essential.

Finally, in promoting critical arts dialogue and writing about dance and the arts, Jomba! runs its fourth year of the Dance Writing Residency. Six applicants have been selected and will be mentored through the festival as they create critical writing for both the Jomba! Blog and for the Jomba! Khaluma festival newspaper. Jomba's artistic director, Lliane Loots, will also host the "Jomba! Talks Dance" platforms with the various dancers and choreographers presenting work at Jomba! These will be held directly after performances so please check the schedule for details.

Tickets are R50 or R35 (scholars/students/pensioners) Booking through Computicket or at venue from one hour beforehand.

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