JOMBA! is back with a bang!
THE 23rd JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience! is back with a bang for its second digital edition from August 24 to September 5. And local and international dance-makers and choreographers are ready to dazzle and dance off the lockdown blues away.
“They return back. They come to give me opportunities. But they can’t see me…,” says dancer and creative director Nqubeko ‘Cue’ Ngema, who is ready to showcase his latest dance masterpiece at this year's contemporary dance festival.
A no stranger to JOMBA! Ngema is chuffed to be part of this dance extravaganza.
“I was really excited when JOMBA! invited me to create a dance piece because, for the first time, I will be directing and choreographing my own piece, and I really feel honoured,” the Ndwedwe-born star said.
“My piece is called, Can You See Me Now? And it’s about us Africans because we have forgotten about our own culture. We are blinded by Western cultures,” explained Ngema.
He continued: “The show follows a story of a young man who is striving for success, but his ancestors cannot help him because he’s surrounded by darkness ... they want to give him opportunities, but they cannot see him.”
The show explores the significance of acknowledging and understanding African culture and traditional values.
“Amasiko wethu and imvelaphi yethu (our traditions and our heritage) have all been neglected. Our ancestors are called demons. So, we need to remind our young people about the importance of culture and our heritage.
“You may wonder why you don’t succeed in life, and sometimes all you need is to go emsamo (a sacred place that you use as a shrine at your home), shisa ipepho (burn incense) and connect with your ancestors.
“Remember if you don’t know who you are and where you come from, it will be difficult to know where you are going, so it’s important to know your roots and appreciate who you are,” the award-winning choreographer added.
The 27-year-old dance teacher and the founder of Africue_entertainment said being part of the inaugural JOMBA! online festival last year was exciting and daunting at the same time.
This year, though, he’s most looking forward to how the audience will respond to his piece and the festival as a whole.
“I watched the video that we did last year, and feel like I'm getting a second chance, to do better than I did last year,” he said.
Ngema made his JOMBA! debut in 2015 and he hasn’t looked back.
Now he has an opportunity to dance while exposing upcoming dancers to world-class festivals such as JOMBA! and he cannot wait to share his beautifully-crafted dance piece with the world.
Ngema is part of Durban Digital Edge 2021 Commissions, featuring six Durban-based dance makers who are beginning to make waves on the local dance scene – Sabelo Cele, Thobile Maphanga, Cameron S Govender, Aphelele Nyawoso and Snethemba Khuzwayo.
Festival Artistic Director Dr Lliane Loots added: “The festival takes Border Crossings as its theme which looks at dance-makers, dance companies and performance-based artists who, in some articulated way, resonate with the ideas of Border Crossings; be these geographical, emotional, physical, spiritual and performative.
“We are proud to host a digital space that nurtures and supports a serious artistic engagement with South African, African and international contemporary dance and dance-makers.”
At the helm of the festival for over two decades, Loots is thrilled about its virtual reception.
Although she misses the live performances, interactions with the artists and audience members, and all the excitement that comes with the live festival, the online presence has been overwhelmingly a win for JOMBA! and the audience alike.
She added: “A lot of the work that is showing this year is particularly the meeting of film and dance. So, we’ve got a lot of young choreographers working with filmmakers to create what we call ‘screen dance’. It’s almost like a new genre, and the work is highly political. It’s very beautiful. It’s evocative. It’s dreamy.
“And I think people are going to just have a wonderful time, so I hope they tune in because it’s absolutely free.”
The inaugural online festival managed to reach an impressive global audience and Loot is hoping for more much bigger audience this year.
“At the end of the festival (last year), we had 1,5 million views. We had people from all over the world...we had people from Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigerian... We had people from America, from Europe, and because it’s online, people were able to access it in a way that they wouldn’t have if they had to come and step into a theatre in Durban.
“It was really interesting. And the potential for sharing works across the planet, sharing works across our continent, is a massive gain for the festival.”
Loot says there are currently discussions to continue with online engagements even when things go back to normal.
JOMBA! is free to watch anywhere from Tuesday, August 24, to Sunday, September 5 – on Youtube: https://bit.ly/WatchJomba.
For the full programme go to:https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/2021-programme/.