[SPONSORED POST] The South African State Theatre (SAST) has announced a hybrid theatre programme for the Kucheza Afrika Festival that has been adapted to run taking into account the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Kucheza Afrika Festival’s 2021 programme, scheduled to take place from 1 to 11 April 2021, will be both online and in person at the theatre.
The programme boasts the dance fraternity’s renowned dancers such as Vincent Mantsoe, Lulu Mlangeni, Bailey Snyman, Nicola Haskins, Ignatius van Heerden, Fana Tshabalala, Thulani Chauke, Mdu Nhlapo and more.
Like many other arts events across the globe last year, the launch of Kucheza Afrika Festival was postponed due to the life threatening Covid-19 pandemic. To comply with the pandemic’s health and safety protocols, this year’s festival will be a hybrid of online and live theatre, with selected shows only streaming online while some showcase for both live and virtual audiences.
Kucheza Afrika Festival is a continuation of SAST’s dance festival which debuted under the name Dance Umbrella Africa in 2019. Inspired by the Swahili word for dance, Kucheza aims to be a platform that will help preserve dance in the country and in Africa and ensure that dancers always have a home at the State Theatre. The festival is SAST’s aspiration to continue serving domestic and continental dance communities, as well as a call to action for Africa to converge as one in its diversity.
Spearheaded by the SAST’s Artistic Director Aubrey Sekhabi, Kucheza is an exciting new leaf for dance at the theatre.
“We have intentionally and singularly curated an open programme – a platform to express the dynamism and uninhibited creative expression that Africa is known for,” says Sekhabi. “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.”
Once again, the SAST as Africa’s largest theatre complex, will be home to dancers and choreographers hailing from all corners of the world to mark an optimistic era for dance in Africa. Kucheza’s programme has been split into two categories. Namely, the Main Programme which profiles experienced choreographers and headlining works, and the Young Artists Programme, a bespoke platform for young dancers who are finding their feet in dance and taking up space in the dance community.
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