By Sharlene Versfeld
Published August 29, 2023
Maulid Owino of Kenya is one of the six contestants shortlisted for screen dance competition whose top three winners shall be unveiled during the 25th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience hosted by Centre for Creative Arts of University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa.
The annual festival, that begins on August 29, 2023, is set to feature performances, open workshops, talks and site-specific works, and some digital offerings that are FREE and online on its Jomba_Dance channel on YouTube.
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The screen dance competition platform JOMBA! OPEN HORIZONS is available online on September 3, 2023 at 6:00 PM.In early 2023 JOMBA! opened submissions for both long and short form screen dance films. An independent jury selected six films to showcase and the top three winners will be announced after the viewing. The top three will be given a cash prize from the festival to honour their ongoing work. The six shortlisted works are from Tshediso Kabulu (Durban), Maulid Owino (Nairobi, Kenya), Kamogelo Dooka (Cape Town), Zandile Salukazana (Cape Town), Thamsanqa Majela (Bloemfontein), and Oscar O’Ryan (Cape Town).
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Durban-based dance-maker Marcia Mzindle presents a screen dance work as her offering as a grant recipient on the JOMBA! ON THE EDGE platform that supports fresh innovative contemporary dance work. Her s dance film INTO EMDAKA, was conceived while she was reading her Master’s degree where she began to explore the body — particularly Black women’s bodies, looking at dance and in physical performances. The work focuses on reimagining the Black female body as a ‘site of possibilities’ that unveils its multiple identities. INTO EMDAKA will premiere on the JOMBA! YouTube channel on September 7, 2023 at 6:00 PM.
And as the closing for 2023, JOMBA! has partnered with the PANORAMA DANCE FESTVIVAL in Brazil and will screen two Brazilian screen dance films on September 10, 2023 at 6:00 PM.
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While ELEGBARÁ is described as a “an ephemeral and visceral dance, dialogue with the city; making the streets an urgent stage”, ÈDÀ is a dance video with performance scenes recorded throughout the territory of Maré where seven artists, residents of Maré and other communities come together during the pandemic to pulsate and weave dance as breath and hope.
“Over the past three years, as the COVID-19 pandemic shifted our world, what emerged was the blossoming of digital dance making (sometimes referred to as ‘screen dance’),” says Dr Lliane Loots, Curator and Artistic Director of the festival. “Stepping into 2023, we wanted to continue to support digital dance making – especially in the global South – and to enable audiences, who are unable to be here in person, to experience part of the festival. The result is some fascinating work, that we believe contemporary dance lovers will enjoy.”
All these DIGITAL JOMBA! 2023 works are offered free via youtube.com/Jomba_Dance/.
