Kucheza Afrika Festival to stage at SA State Theatre

The festival, which has been renamed from Dance Umbrella Africa, aims to be a platform that preserves dance in the country and Africa.

The event will feature talented dancers and choreographers from South Africa and around the world such as 2019 Standard Bank Young Artist Lulu Mlangeni, French theatre director Philippe Pelen as well as South African musicians Brydon Bolton and Matthijs van Dijk, among many others.

Through the festival, which is led by SAST artistic director Aubrey Sekhabi, the theatre hopes to continue serving domestic and continental dance communities.

“We have intentionally and singularly curated an open programme, a platform to express the dynamism and uninhibited creative expression that Africa is known for,” Sekhabi says.

“This dance festival also acknowledges our youth and their acute awareness of the challenges within society and their ability to narrate those stories, with their techniques and their interpretation of contemporary African dance.”

The dance programme will showcase 15 works that will be split into two categories: the main category, profiling experienced choreographers and headlining works, and the young artists category, which will serve as a platform for young dancers in the initial stages of their careers.

Mlangeni will dispel gender stereotypes with a piece titled The Encounter on 9 and 10 April. In the young artists programme, Senegalese choreographer Roger Sarr will pay homage to King of Dahomey (Benin) Behanzin with a self-introspective piece called Beyond an Appearance on 11 and 12 April.

Other performances will be by dance companies Matchbox Theatre Collective and Performance on Pointe, as well as musicians Bailey Snyman, Nicola Haskins, Themba Mbuli, Fana Tshabalala and Mdu Nhlapo.

More information about the event can be found here.