ISPA's Gabriel YoungStar takes Pick of the Platform at JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS 2026

DURBAN, 28 August 2026: Last night (27 August) young Durban choreographer Gabriel YoungStar’s work “The Meeting”, featuring students of the International School of Performing Arts, was named Pick of the Platform at JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS 2026, the annual showcase for emerging dance-makers presented as part of the Centre for Creative Arts' 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience.

YoungStar's work, The Meeting, took the familiar ritual of the corporate boardroom and transformed it into an arena of ambition, hierarchy, manipulation and survival. Behind the polished language of professional diplomacy, the piece revealed another conversation communicated through gesture, posture, proximity and power - exploring shifting relationships of authority and submission, alliance and betrayal, control and confrontation.

Jury praise

Announcing the award, the JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS jury praised the range of work on this year's platform, noting the commitment, discipline and focus shown by the young performers on stage, with each work fully rehearsed and carefully costumed, with attention to good lighting and some wonderful music choices.

Of The Meeting, the jury said the piece impressed with precise partnering, risk-taking and an intense energy that elicited spontaneous encouragement from the audience, with an ensemble that was synchronised and well-drilled in its exploration of confrontation, submission and control.

The jury gave a special mention to choreographer Thembani Ngxelo for What Happened to the People of Bantu?, which they described as an evocative and visceral conjuring of cultural memory, drawing on Ngxelo's Xhosa heritage and combining strong visual, live vocal and digital elements. The jury noted that Ngxelo's choreographic voice has much to say and deserves further development.

Jury and programme details

The 2026 Open Horizons jury comprised: Clare Craighead (non-voting chair), Drama and Production Studies lecturer at DUT, dance writer and academic based in Durban, Jabu Siphika, Durban-based dancer and choreographer, senior company member of FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY; Tammy Ballantyne, Johannesburg-based dance writer and journalist and Warona Seane, acclaimed South African actor and theatre director, teaching in UKZN's Drama and Performance Studies Programme.

JOMBA! continues until 6 September at venues around Durban. For more information go to https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/