A new dance festival “Body Moves” will shine a spotlight on disabled dancers.
Presented by the Sibikwa Arts Centre, the showcase will be held from October 10 to 16 at the centre in Benoni and will also host dancers and dance companies from Ireland, Italy, Flanders and the Netherlands.
The festival aims to challenge perceptions and expand the understanding of dance and disability, promote cultural exchange and collaboration and cooperation between African and European countries.
The South African companies participating in the festival include Flatfoot Dance Company from Durban, Sibikwa Arts Centre, and Moving into Dance and Unmute from Cape Town.
Works set to premiere at the “Body Moves Dance Festival” include:
A collaboration between dance company, Moving into Dance disabled dancers and Sibikwa dancers. This new dance piece will be choreographed by Joseph Tebandeke from Uganda and has yet to be named.
A collaboration between Unmute Dance Company from Cape Town and MonkeyMind Company, a Flemish contemporary and performance company based in Ghent. Choreography will be led by Lisi Estaras.
A new duet will be created for Eva Eikhout, a Dutch dancer and TV presenter to be partnered by Thapelo Kotlolo, a dancer from Sibikwa. And Adriaan Luteijn from Introdans in the Netherlands will choreograph the duet.
The Italian company Officine di Creazione will premiere a new work and Sighile Hennessey from Ireland will make her debut solo performance.
The festival will also offer workshops from October 10 to 14 to promote conversations between academia, civil society organisations and artists about disability and dance.
Registration to participate in the workshops are free on Quicket.
Tickets for the dance programme on October 15 and 16 are available at Quicket at R80, for a group booking of 10 or more it will cost R70 per person or R100 at the door.