Themba Mbuli is a dancer, activist, performer, and choreographer Themba Mbuli began his journey with dance when he joined Soweto-based youth club, Zola Musical Drama, almost 20 years ago. He went on to become the 2016 Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance and has made a name for himself in the performing arts as one of South Africa’s brilliant storytellers. Mbuli has co-founded the projects Broken Borders Arts Project as well as the Unmute Dance Company in Cape Town, the only remaining theatre company for performers with disabilities to come together and create new work. Mbuli is interested in reflecting his observations on the global mistreatment of women, and takes much of his creative inspiration from the works of poets, musicians, and dancers. For Season 4 of the Less Good Idea, the performer is interested in making himself as available as possible to his fellow artists and collaborators, and will lend his practice to a number of the Season’s pieces, including dancer and choreographer Jessica Nupen’s Don’t Trust The Border. For Mbuli, this is the first time he’s collaborated with artists who work across such a variety of genres, and will incorporate the challenges he encountered during the workshopping process in much of his work for Season 4.

WRITING | Dave Mann
PHOTOGRAPHER | Zivanai Matangi