Mamela Nyamza is a dancer, choreographer, director, and performing artist who’s been trained in ballet, modern dance, African dance, and the Horton technique, and has ventured into the realms of Spanish, gumboot, and Butoh dance. Nyamza’s choreography is firmly rooted in autobiographical, political and social works which have garnered her a national and international audience. Most recently, she held the title of the 2018 Featured Artist for the National Arts Festival and has been appointed as the curator for the newly re-instated Dance Umbrella, South Africa. Much of the process of Nyamza’s work for Season 4 has taken the shape of intellectual and performed experimentation, allowing ideas to take shape before falling away and giving rise to new, improvised solutions. Nyamza will be working with artists from varying genres to present a physical deliberation on the act and concept of giving thanks. Her solo work Black Privilege – a work informed by the notion and experience of rejection of the other by mainstream gate-keeping institutions – will also be performed for Season 4. 

PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi