JOMBA! FEMME FORWARD Residency honours Women's Month with new generation of Durban screen dance artists

As South Africa marks Women's Month, the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, prepares to engage with five emerging Durban-based, dance artists through the JOMBA! Femme Forward Residency 2026, one of the programmes within the festival.

Residency details

Running from 24 to 29 August 2026, the residency, now in its second year, is presented in partnership with Cape Town-based Darkroom Contemporary and offers five participants intensive training and creative mentorship in dance for the screen. The programme builds on JOMBA!'s five-year history of showcasing nearly 50 dance films, and follows the residency's successful 2025 launch.

This year's cohort brings together a group of women shaping Durban's contemporary performance landscape: Aluta Nzama, Alwande Khuzwayo, Andisiwe Mbambo, Aphelele Nyawose and Siobhan Wright. Over six intensive days, the artists will develop original short dance films exploring themes of identity, resilience and lived experience, giving voice and visibility to women telling their own stories through movement.

Support and mentorship

Louise Coetzer, artistic director of Darkroom Contemporary says, “we are delighted to be partnering with JOMBA! in this specially focuses Femme Forward 2026 residency and helping to skill and grow young female film and dance makers”.

"FEMME FORWARD exists to give young female-identifying dance-makers in KwaZulu-Natal the space, skills and support to shape their own creative futures," said Thobile Maphanga , Assistant Curator,, and coordinator of this JOMBA! residency. "Coming together during Women's Month, this residency is a reminder that investing in women's artistic voices is investing in the stories our country needs to hear."

Sharing the outcomes

The outcomes of the residency will be shared after the Forging Futures JOMBA! Conversation that takes place on Saturday 29 August 2026 @ 2pm, at the Centre for Creative Arts Board Room, Howard College Campus (UKZN).

For more information go to: https://jomba.ukzn.ac.za/