The Centre for Creative Arts and the University of KwaZulu-Natal present 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience 26 August – 7 September 2026

Moving Bodies. Speaking Truth. Choreographing Resistance.

The University of KwaZulu-Natal's Centre for Creative Arts presents the 28th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, a thirteen-day celebration taking place from 26 August to 7 September 2026.

JOMBA! features internationally acclaimed choreographers, emerging artists, scholars and audiences in a festival that is one of the continent’s leading platforms for contemporary dance.

This year's programme welcomes artists from South Africa, Spain, France, Jamaica, the Netherlands, Uganda, Ireland, Nigeria, Tanzania and Brazil, presenting an extraordinary programme of performances, artist residencies, workshops, public dialogues, youth platforms and digital dance.

The theme for JOMBA! 2026 is Choreographies of Activism: Moving Bodies as Disruptive Presencing.

Curator and Artistic Director Dr Lliane Loots explains:

“Whether confronting histories of colonialism, racial injustice, environmental catastrophe, gendered violence, displacement, disability or belonging, dance remains one of humanity's oldest and most powerful ways of making ourselves visible. This year's JOMBA! asks what it means to move as an act of presence - and to dance as an act of activism.”

Honouring A Lifetime Of Dance Activism

Each year JOMBA! celebrates a South African artist whose contribution has reshaped the country's dance landscape, and this year’s Legacy Artist is the acclaimed choreographer, curator and arts activist PJ Sabbagha, Founder and Artistic Director of the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative.

He presents Noah, the concluding work in his Noah trilogy that combines multimedia performance, dance theatre and powerful visual imagery, to reflect on climate crisis, loss, memory and survival.

Celebrating South African Choreographic Excellence

Two of South Africa’s most influential choreographic voices, and previous JOMBA! Legacy artists, Mamela Nyamza and Vincent Mantsoe.

Mamela Nyamza presents her breath-taking ensemble work THE HERD/LESS, a visually arresting meditation on community, conformity, vulnerability and survival.

Internationally celebrated choreographer and performer Vincent Mantsoe, whose deeply embodied practice has long bridged ancestral knowledge with contemporary performance, brings his new solo, Desert Poems, which offers an intimate meditation on endurance, spirituality and transformation.

A Global Conversation Through Dance

Jamaican guests and one of the Caribbean's leading contemporary dance companies, L'ACADCO: A United Caribbean Dance, perform in an exhilarating programme, 1LUV.

Founded and directed by the legendary Dr L'Antoinette Stines, L'ACADCO has a distinctly Caribbean contemporary dance language rooted in African diasporic histories, Jamaican cultural traditions and the internationally acclaimed L'Antech technique.

This is a powerful celebration of Black creativity, spirituality and resilience.

Another major highlight is HEROES, presented by the acclaimed Dutch company Introdans in collaboration with Uganda's Joseph Tebandeke and Durban's FLATFOOT DANCE COMPANY.

This remarkable programme spans internationally celebrated choreography by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich, alongside South African choreography by Zinhle Nzama, and the inclusive masterpiece IUNGO by Adriaan Luteijn, bringing together performers of different backgrounds, generations and physical abilities.

Tanzanian-based French choreographer Matthieu Nieto presents PEPONI (Paradise in Swahili), the debut of the House of Wondar, created in collaboration with Tanzanian performers and South African poet and dramaturg Koleka Putuma.

The work explores the idea of paradise from an African perspective, and whether hopeful futures can be imagined and created.

Nigerian-born, Ireland-based choreographer Mufutau Yusuf presents his intimate site-responsive solo Proses on neither here nor there as part of the KZNSA Gallery programme.

Through movement, meditation and quiet physical intensity, Yusuf reflects on mortality, memory and renewal - an immersive encounter that blurs the boundaries between performance, ritual and public space.

Spanish Focus And World Premiere

Following recent successful international Spanish partnerships, JOMBA! offers a focus on contemporary dance from Spain, in partnership with the Embassy of Spain in South Africa.

One of Europe's most exciting choreographic collectives, Barcelona-based Iron Skulls Co., with their innovative fusion of breakdance, hip-hop, physical theatre and contemporary dance, are the festival’s Artists in Residence.

They will develop the world premiere of Accumulation of Unaccountable Awakenings, created with South African choreographer Tebby W.T. Ramasike.

This ambitious work brings together Iron Skulls' explosive urban physicality and Ramasike's distinctive Afro-Butoh practice, creating a powerful dialogue around memory, resistance, spirituality and healing.

Festival Highlights

Other features of the festival include:

The JOMBA! Durban Edge Solo Grants, presented in partnership with the KZNSA Gallery, showcase two newly commissioned works by Durban artists Skyla Buchanan and Mthokozisi Mkhwanazi.

Digital artists include Cape Town's award-winning Darkroom Contemporary, and Brazilian choreographic duo Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira, with the acclaimed film Delirar o Racial (Delirium of the Racial).

The JOMBA! DIGITAL OPEN HORIZONS showcases new screen dance from emerging filmmakers and choreographers.

The JOMBA! LIVE OPEN HORIZONS provides a professional performance platform for emerging and established choreographers.

The much-loved JOMBA! YOUTH OPEN HORIZONS, in partnership with the Stable Theatre, also adds to the festival’s rich offerings.

The FEMME FORWARD Residency has expanded its commitment to supporting emerging women-identifying dance artists in KwaZulu-Natal.

This year's residency focuses on dance for the screen, in partnership with Darkroom Contemporary, with five Durban-based artists.

JOMBA! Talks Dance are post-performance conversations on stage, while the JOMBA! Forging Futures is a free dialogue to debate questions facing contemporary performance in South Africa and beyond.

The JOMBA! KHULUMA Dance Writing Residency supports emerging dance writers, particularly postgraduate dance and performance students, by building their critical writing skills within the festival environment.

Local dancers can take part in professional workshops and masterclasses led by visiting South African and international artists.

Booking is essential.

Booking Information

For more information, visit https://www.jomba.ukzn.ac.za/ or book through Webtickets.

Special full festival passes at a discounted rate are available.