Curator Dr Lliane Loots says, “ This year’s JOMBA! is set against a backdrop of both local and global political renegotiations of what it means to be human, to belong, to have a home and to be a citizen of a country (and of a planet); against an occupied Gaza, a ravaged Ukraine, anti-foreigner right wing political movements in Europe, a South African government of national unity that is busy manoeuvring for power … JOMBA! begins to ask what is means to find our way home”.
She continues, “As a critical dance festival, we have curated a series of artistic encounters that question ideas of home, belonging and citizenship. We have invited dance works that ask us to relook at home as not just a physical space, but as a metaphoric and poetic space where we are either seeking to return, or to leave. We honour dance makers who will be bringing beauty, humour, pathos and politics to our stages and hearts”.
To this end, JOMBA! and JOMBA! @ The Market Theatre is delighted to be honouring veteran South African dance maker Robyn Orlin as the 2024 JOMBA! Legacy Artist for her innovative, political and deeply interrogated dance and theatre work that spans over four decades of dance making in South Africa and internationally. JOMBA! celebrates Robyn Orlin for her vision and practice, her wit, humour and insight, and for significantly contributing to our countries rich critical contemporary dance history and legacy.
Now living in Berlin, Orlin presents we wear our wheels with pride and slap your streets with color … we said ‘bonjour’ to satan in 1820 … – a work made with Johannesburg based MOVING INTO DANCE. It is a deeply personal work that emanates from one of Robyn’s childhood memories visiting Durban. These were the Zulu rickshaws whose “pushers” (or rather pullers), with their elastic stride, seemed to dance with their bodies suspended in the air. In a visually arresting dance work that honours the visual beauty of these rickshaws, Orlin also reminds us, as she says, “of a dirty history deeply buried in the political collective unconscious reminding audiences of facets of the Zulu rickshaws, considering their origins, inseparable from the time of colonization”. In the way that only Orlin can, she delves into the Rickshaw driver’s mischievous appropriation, sublimation, irony and self-deprecation, as she celebrates the Rickshaw driver’s refusal to concede their dignity to colonial and apartheid forces.
With support from the Indian Consulate (Durban and Johannesburg), ICCR, and the Swami Vivekananda Centre (Durban) JOMBA! and JOMBA! @ The Market is delighted to continue its South-South partnerships by welcoming Bangalore based dancer and choreographer Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy. With distant roots in classical Indian dance forms, Deepak Shivaswamy is firmly embedded in contemporary dance making and a search for finding ways to express modern Indian identities – and all the cognate ideas of home that this entails. He presents a double bill titled Vasudaiva Kutumbakam. He says, “this is a concept that the world is one family. This theme inspires our performances here at JOMBA! through the universal language of dance”. His first work Weight of Time invites audiences to question the traditional idea of art having a purpose. Instead, it encourages you to be present and enjoy the performance for the sake of the experience. The second work, Mycelium Maatu looks at the mycelium a network of fungal threads that organise themselves naturally into a beautiful, open-ended structure that supports and connects each other. This offers a profound provocation to Shivaswamy’s dance making.
JOMBA! 2024 also launches an innovative joint annual dance commission by the CCA JOMBA! and the Market Theatre with the express purpose of supporting and making space for innovative and provocative South African dance makers. Titled the PHAKAMISA Dance Commission – with reference to the isiZulu idea of lifting up and holding – this commission is an ongoing commitment to the illustrious JOMBA! and Market Theatre partnership (started in 2023) to grow and support South African dance. The Artistic Director of the Market Theatre, Greg Homann, shares, “We are delighted, at a difficult intersection of global histories to support the work and vision of Cape Town based Yaseen Manuel. His unique access of his own Muslim South African history with the intersection of both personal and political dance storytelling, makes him an exceptional voice in dance.”
Yaseen Manual presents Madha Kan which is a deeply personal journey that interrogates the current events unfolding in Palestine; capturing not only the harsh realities but also the deep compassion and kindness of its citizens. Initially a solo endeavor, Madha Kan is now evolving into a new ensemble work for JOMBA! and will be premiered nationally for its first time at JOMBA! Manual will stay on at Market Theatre for a further week of performances after JOMBA! as part of his PHKAMISA Dance Commission.
As the fourth offering and carefully negotiating the festival’s provocations, JOMBA! @ The Market welcomes Cape Town’s powerhouse company JAZZART. JAZZART offer a specially curated evening titled RESILIENCE and serves as a poignant exploration of the strength, flexibility, and enduring adaptability of the South African spirit. Featuring three captivating works; I am African choreographed by Jazzart’s Head of Training, Sifiso Kweyama, Battlefield choreographed by ex-Jazzart Company Dancer, Lihle Mfene, and Dark Flock crafted by the award-winning duo MANACAN. This triple bill is a powerful programme and will captivate audiences with the sheer mastery that is JAZZART.
