JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience announced its “pick of the platform” awards of Open Horizons 2022 which was screened on the festival’s YouTube Channel on Thursday 1 September, and remains available for the remainder of the festival until 11 September.
JOMBA!’s Open Horizons platform this year invited digital dance-makers to make submissions for review by our independent jury members. Our call for submissions offered digital dance-makers the capacity to submit short-form work (under 3minutes) and long-form work (between 4 – 8minutes).
The platform encourages submissions from dance-makers across Africa and South Africa and has been a platform for artists, new and established, to create and develop new and original work for participation on JOMBA!’s international stage.
Following jury deliberations around the submissions received for 2022, six dance films were selected for inclusion on our Open Horizons platform, showcasing work from across South Africa and also Includes a work from Kenya, offering a diverse range of dance styles, forms and themes and some really evocative work emerging from young African artists and our storied continent.
Three of the six dance-films were selected for “pick-of-the-platform” awards with Cape Town’s Keisha Solomon and Olivia Ntsuba, collectively billed as “Experience”, taking top honours and a cash prize of R3500,00 for their work “I am” – an exploration of identity. Juror David April explains “this performance is beautifully interpreted by dancers Yaseen Manuel and Philasande Majikela”.
Taking second place with its R2500,00 award this year, is Gauteng-based Tshepo Molusi’s solo “The Convincer”; a work that deals with mental health issues and masculinities. Jurors were particularly impressed by the innovative editing used in Molusi’s submission and commend the bravery in the work.
Kenyan-based Diana Gaya who also placed on the 2021 Open Horizons platforms is awarded third place and R1500,00 for her solo “Inside Out” which deals with the confluence of Covid-19 lockdowns and an increase in Gender-based violence. Gaya says of her work: “This piece is inspired by day-to-day hardships, positive and negative…”.
Also included on the platform are works by Durban’s Sibonelo Mchunu (Ill-State), Sasha Fourie(Braid) from Cape Town and Kwanele Finch Thusi (Pina) who is Gauteng- based.
The Festival offers a range of workshops, talks and performances and runs until 11 September. Tickets for performances at the Sneddon Theatre are R80, and R65 for students, scholars and pensioners through Computicket. All other events are free.
For more information follow on social media or go to the website: jomba.ukzn.ac.za
