Mamela Nyamza's alchemy of anger into grace at National Arts Festival
Cape Town dancer, teacher, choreographer, artist and activist Mamela Nyamza is the featured artist at the 2018 Grahamstown National Arts Festival, which means her craft will be celebrated and showcased. Previous featured artists include the musician and composer Neo Muyanga (2017) and Baxter Theatre director and playwright Lara Foot (2016). This is the first time the accolade has been given to a dancer and Nyamza doesn’t take this lightly, particularly in an environment she feels does not support dance, after the recent closure of Dance Umbrella, a national platform for contemporary dance through which Nyamza and others came up. "This accolade is a great honour. It shows that my work is being seen. Dancers in SA often feel like we’re not being looked at. I’m excited," she says. She is also nervous as she is about to premiere new material, and revisit old work with her matured body and an evolving dance vocabulary. It is a time to reflect on the past, present and future with material...
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