My Body My Space, a new public arts festival in Ekurhuleni supported by Nedbank Arts Affinity and ACT officially begins on Monday the 2nd of February. The festival is coordinated by the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative and sponsored by the National Department of Arts and Culture. It will take place in various key points of the City of Ekurhuleni from the 2nd of February to Saturday the 7th of February.
Innovative dance interventions will be erupting on the streets and pavements of the City of Ekurhuleni, in hubs of city life, under-served communities and at the intersection of its diverse citizenry. The idea behind the festival is to blend staged performance with ‘guerrilla’ style series of art interventions, flash mobs, installations and live public performances to contribute to awareness of key issues such as social cohesion and nation building.
Featuring a range of works by Johannesburg’s top contemporary choreographers and dance companies, community based artists and crafters, it celebrates 20-years of democracy as it explores issues relating to gender violence and the impact of HIV/Aids. The festival aims to re-stitch communities and spaces that have previously been separated and hopes, to shine a light on the role of women, children and other vulnerable members of society and find a shared voice and experience around critical, personal and social issues.
My Body My Space aims to be an annual event, attendance will be free of charge and food and soft drinks will be on sale. FATC believes that this festival, in moving arts and performance events out of traditional spaces and into the public domain will position Ekurhuleni as a vibrant and responsible contributor to arts and culture, which will reignite and uplift the public space of the city.
With the City as a metaphor for the human body, FATC envisages the festival and events unfolding along the city’s numerous critical routes and arteries, which serve as major transport routes but are also significant in their linking of historically, politically, socially and economically separated communities.
The performances on February 7 at the OR Tambo precinct in Wattville, that make up the Central Nervous System programme will feature collaborations from the Sibikwa orchestra, Sibikwa Dance Company, FATC, Moving into Dance, Lucky Dance Theatre, Via Katlehong, and Vuyani Dance Theatre, with works created by by Oscar Buthulezi, Muzi Shile, Sonia Radebe, Fana Tshabalala, Shawn Mathupi, Thoko Sibiya, Thapelo Thokolo, Tsego Kutsoane, Nadine Joseph, Kieron Jina, Nicholas Aphane, Thabo Kobeli and Thulani Chauke as well as youth and cultural groups from Katlehong, Wattville and Etwatwa amongst others.
The ‘guerrilla’ interventions that make up the arteries programme will be approximately 30 minutes long. They will take place as follows: On February 2 at 14h00 in Khumalo Street, Thokoza; on February 3 at 14h00 in Natalspruit Street, corner of Kgotso Street in Katlehong. There will be further flash mobs during the My Body My Space season at the taxi rank in Daveyton on Eiselen Road, at the taxi rank in Benoni on Voortrekker Road and in Dube Street in Wattville opposite the schools.
The festival is sponsored by the National Department of Arts and Culture: Mzansi Golden Economy Public Art Programme fund; the Ekurhuleni Department of Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture; the Gauteng Provincial Department of Sports, Arts, Recreation and Culture and supported by Splitbeam; UJ Arts and Culture; Rand Merchant Bank; the French Institute of South Africa; ACT and Nedbank Arts Affinity.
To support and follow the festival on social media, visit the FATC facebook page and #fatcflash. For a full programme of the festival please click here.