iKapa Dance Theatre is establishing and creating South Africa’s first Cape Town International Dance Festival. The Festival will consist of live performances of dance, as a performed art, from local, African and other international companies from around the world. The festival will create educational and internship opportunities leading to job creation. Public talks with festival performers and film projections will be facilitated between performances. A curated program of works will be presented in various venues at the Artscape Theatre Centre.
The Festival will bring top-calibre performances to audiences of all social & economic backgrounds. The festival will mark Cape Town South Africa as an international dance destination on the continent of Africa as well as fill an important need within Cape Town and its surrounds. An underlying theme of the festival will look at migration as a fundamental aspect in dance, both historically and actually. By its theme and programming, the festival will address intercultural and cross-cultural exchanges. The geography of Cape Town bears witness to a deeply divided past which continues to reinforce an economic and cultural disconnect; this underlines the great need for cultural opportunities that oblige us to cross over such divides to share experiences of quality that inspire the soul and entertain the spirit. Migration in itself implies movement. This allows us to be mindful of migration on both local and global levels and to see the dynamic push and pull of human migration through the lens of performing artists and dance makers. Through the dance histories of the participants themselves, audiences discover and appreciate the fluidity and streaming of creative consciousness. The festival encourages us to embrace local dance makers and professionals as well as those from other cultures and other countries.
Enriching the festival spirit further, the festival dates include landmark days. November 29 is the Maboneng Township Arts Festival in Gugulethu. Dance performances will be presented in Gugulethu, creating a very real and dynamic link between “town and township”. There are also two United Nations’ globally recognised days of observance: World Aids Day on December 1st and the International Day of Disabled Persons on December 3rd. These world-wide days of observance, included in our festival dates, will be honoured through dance as a dignified means of expression, a universally attainable art form and a means to increase awareness of the human condition within diverse societies, economies and cultures.
In order to achieve lasting impact, positive experiences must be sustainable. This ongoing, annual festival provides that opportunity for sustainability. Locally, the festival will train new apprentices to the creative industry leading to job creation. For the public, the festival creates a collective meeting point on our calendars for inspiring encounters between people from different cultures, abilities and socio-economic backgrounds. It is an opportunity to engage with renowned dance artists locally, from Africa, America, Europe and Asia. The Cape Town International Dance Festival enables the Mother City to join the universal celebration of dance festival-goers who meet, discover, and share multiple ideas and visions from local, national and international artists. November 2015 sets the precedent for the Cape Town International Dance Festival.
Theo Ndlindwa, Director of iKapa Dance Theatre, has gathered a formidable team of professional and experienced partners and producers, both local and international, to bring this exciting project to fruition. iKapa will be working with Artscape Theatre Centre and Zelda Productions from Cape Town and Battery Dance Company from New York City.