Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! 2024
Imaginary Lines - None are free until all are free.
This year Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! will take place on Africa Day, the 25th May 2024.
The parade started in 2016, an event for Hillbrow, initiated by the late super-heroine Lesley Perkes, who had dreams for this place that others have continued to manifest. We continued in 2017 and 2018 and then relaunched the event on Human Rights Day in 2022. Last year, we invited Kyla Davis (Well Worn Theatre) Tamzyn Botha (Shade) and Daniel Buckland to curate and manage the 2023 iteration of the street procession in collaboration with the Kwasha! Theatre Company as part of our Africa Month Festival.
This year under the creative direction of Tamzyn Botha and Daniel Buckland the streets around Windybrow will come alive to celebrate the theme of Imaginary Lines – None are free until all are free.
Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! is a parade of fabulous public performances bringing joy, play and wonder to the streets of Hillbrow on Africa Day, 25 May 2024. Emphasising the connections made with various local community organisations, artists and participants.
Five wonderful facilitators, namely Daniel Buckland, Exotically Divine, Sinenhlanhla Mgeyi, Khathala Nkomo and Andrew Wispa worked alongside Kwasha! Theatre Company with community groups Lefika La Phodiso, Gcebile Dlamini Foundation and Johannesburg Society for the Blind, Fight with Insight, Innovation of Excellence and Dlala Nje. Months of work curating costumed performances and curated happenings that drew inspiration from our theme by exploring the merging of worlds and the lines that connect us all.
We are joined further with performances and collaborations by local organisations and artists namely MES, Shade Youth Art Programme, African Reclaimers Organisation, George’s Boxing Gym, Johannesburg Awakening Minds, Three2Six, ToGaTa, Ezase-Vaal Brass band, Sentech Croozers, Windybrows’s Choir, Marimba players in partnership with marimba Jam and Literacy Group, facilitated by Sisaxhoba Magama, Sue-Anne Hamer and Devorah Rothman – UJ Art Therapy Honours students), David Gara and The Cirk.
The parade returns to ignite the possibilities of community action and connection when artists, makers and youth come together to showcase a shared sense of collective dreaming to shine a light on the importance of public space, by utilizing surprise and provocation as a tool for connection and collective awareness.
In bringing these groups together, the Windybrow Arts Centre expresses its commitment to developing genuine and reciprocal relationships with its neighbours, and by offering a space for young people to explore the arts. It also introduces Kwasha! Theatre Company to the neighbourhood in which it will work, play, teach, and perform this year.
We receive support from Ekhaya CID, Badboys Security, Hillbrow Police, Assitej South Africa, Joburg Photowalkers and the City of Johannesburg.
Save the date – because the 25th of May we will pay an homage to the imaginary lines that weave and hold the narratives that connect us all.
