GAUTENG Dance Manyano's show, Indigenous Dance Feast, gave some hope that the distinct African performing arts and culture is not about to disappear from the face of the earth.
Staged recently for three days at the Dance Factory in Newtown, Johannesburg, the seven different performances featured just over 150 young people who executed African dance moves and songs with passion.
A gymnastic kind of performance that sent the blood rushing to the cerebral was presented in a piece titled Ukugiya Kwe Ngoma by Tswelopele Art Production.
Bana ba Seokodimeng was performed by Youth Channel Group, whose cast was made up of performers with energy and enthusiasm that clearly showed they enjoyed what they were doing - and so did the audience.
Waves of applause rose and fell during Mthakathi Productions' Spirit and Bones - an African spiritual dance piece that was an exhibition of footwork as fast as lighting and drumming that echoed a pounding heartbeat. Indigenous Dance Feast formed part of GDM's celebration of its first decade of operation.
Evh'a Nteso, public relations manager for the GDM, says the first years of the organisation were financially unstable.
But for now that's all in the past, with funding from a number of organisations.
"Part of our many yearly activities include the Soweto Carnival, Dance Manyano Awards, dance and choreography workshops, and taking dancers to the Grahamstown National Arts Festival," Nteso says.
GDM will be taking part in this year's Dance in a Lake festival at Dorothy Nyembe Park in Dobsonville, Soweto.
Admission is free to the festival, which starts at 10am until 6.30pm on December 3.
Celebrating a decade of dance
GAUTENG Dance Manyano's show, Indigenous Dance Feast, gave some hope that the distinct African performing arts and culture is not about to disappear from the face of the earth.
Staged recently for three days at the Dance Factory in Newtown, Johannesburg, the seven different performances featured just over 150 young people who executed African dance moves and songs with passion.
A gymnastic kind of performance that sent the blood rushing to the cerebral was presented in a piece titled Ukugiya Kwe Ngoma by Tswelopele Art Production.
Bana ba Seokodimeng was performed by Youth Channel Group, whose cast was made up of performers with energy and enthusiasm that clearly showed they enjoyed what they were doing - and so did the audience.
Waves of applause rose and fell during Mthakathi Productions' Spirit and Bones - an African spiritual dance piece that was an exhibition of footwork as fast as lighting and drumming that echoed a pounding heartbeat. Indigenous Dance Feast formed part of GDM's celebration of its first decade of operation.
Evh'a Nteso, public relations manager for the GDM, says the first years of the organisation were financially unstable.
But for now that's all in the past, with funding from a number of organisations.
"Part of our many yearly activities include the Soweto Carnival, Dance Manyano Awards, dance and choreography workshops, and taking dancers to the Grahamstown National Arts Festival," Nteso says.
GDM will be taking part in this year's Dance in a Lake festival at Dorothy Nyembe Park in Dobsonville, Soweto.
Admission is free to the festival, which starts at 10am until 6.30pm on December 3.
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