SOUTH African dance audiences will next month be mesmerised by the footwork of one of the country's most talented dancers and choreographers - Desiré Davids.
SOUTH African dance audiences will next month be mesmerised by the footwork of one of the country's most talented dancers and choreographers - Desiré Davids.
Durban dancer and choreographer Davids is a unique artist in that she has also had a great impact on the Dance Festival Seine-Saint Denis.
She bridges the gap between tradition and modernity by delving freely into classical, contemporary and traditional repertoires.
An innovative and technical dancer, she is radiant in her individuality.
She graduated from the University of Cape Town Ballet School with a Teacher's Diploma (1990) and a Performer's Certificate in Dance (1991).
From 1992 until 1998 she worked as soloist and principal performer with two of South Africa's major dance companies, Napac Dance Company (currently The Playhouse Company) in Durban and the State Theatre Dance Company in Pretoria.
In 1997, with fellow South African Boyzie Cekwana, she co-founded the company Boyzie Cekwana's Floating Outfit Project.
The company has received international recognition as one of Africa's ground-breaking and cutting-edge performance companies and has toured extensively in Europe, Africa and the US for more than 10 years.
In 1999 she received the award for Most Outstanding Female Performer for her performance in Rona, which won first prize at the third International African and Indian Ocean Choreography Competition in Madagascar, after which she embarked on various projects between Denmark and South Africa, including Montpellier Danse, Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint Denis, Avignon Festival, Centre National de la Danse Paris and Theatre de la Ville.
Davids has over the past years performed at major festivals and theatres in France and also with companies in Denmark (MBT Dansteater) and Skånes Dansteater in Sweden. She has also had working encounters with Salia nï Seydo (Burkina Faso), Opio Okach (Kenya) and Faustin Linyekula (DRC).
In 2007-08 Davids created New Classics during a residency at The Playhouse Company in Durban and also choreographed her first musical extravaganza.
She led a community teaching project in Newlands West and was a guest teacher for the Flatfoot Dance Company.
In 2009-10, after the creation of Superman et Moi in Reunion Island, she toured this work by French choreographer Pascal Montrouge throughout southern Africa and France (Avignon Festival, Pavillon Noir-Aix en Provence, among several others).
She performed the work SAN by choreographer Vincent Mantsoe, in the US, South Africa and Europe.
Her most recent work, Who is this?... Beneath My Skin, in collaboration with French photographer Pascale Beroujon, premiered to great acclaim at the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Festival in Durban in September 2010.
On the cutting edge
SOUTH African dance audiences will next month be mesmerised by the footwork of one of the country's most talented dancers and choreographers - Desiré Davids.
SOUTH African dance audiences will next month be mesmerised by the footwork of one of the country's most talented dancers and choreographers - Desiré Davids.
Durban dancer and choreographer Davids is a unique artist in that she has also had a great impact on the Dance Festival Seine-Saint Denis.
She bridges the gap between tradition and modernity by delving freely into classical, contemporary and traditional repertoires.
An innovative and technical dancer, she is radiant in her individuality.
She graduated from the University of Cape Town Ballet School with a Teacher's Diploma (1990) and a Performer's Certificate in Dance (1991).
From 1992 until 1998 she worked as soloist and principal performer with two of South Africa's major dance companies, Napac Dance Company (currently The Playhouse Company) in Durban and the State Theatre Dance Company in Pretoria.
In 1997, with fellow South African Boyzie Cekwana, she co-founded the company Boyzie Cekwana's Floating Outfit Project.
The company has received international recognition as one of Africa's ground-breaking and cutting-edge performance companies and has toured extensively in Europe, Africa and the US for more than 10 years.
In 1999 she received the award for Most Outstanding Female Performer for her performance in Rona, which won first prize at the third International African and Indian Ocean Choreography Competition in Madagascar, after which she embarked on various projects between Denmark and South Africa, including Montpellier Danse, Biennale de la Danse de Lyon, Les Rencontres Chorégraphiques Internationales de Seine-Saint Denis, Avignon Festival, Centre National de la Danse Paris and Theatre de la Ville.
Davids has over the past years performed at major festivals and theatres in France and also with companies in Denmark (MBT Dansteater) and Skånes Dansteater in Sweden. She has also had working encounters with Salia nï Seydo (Burkina Faso), Opio Okach (Kenya) and Faustin Linyekula (DRC).
In 2007-08 Davids created New Classics during a residency at The Playhouse Company in Durban and also choreographed her first musical extravaganza.
She led a community teaching project in Newlands West and was a guest teacher for the Flatfoot Dance Company.
In 2009-10, after the creation of Superman et Moi in Reunion Island, she toured this work by French choreographer Pascal Montrouge throughout southern Africa and France (Avignon Festival, Pavillon Noir-Aix en Provence, among several others).
She performed the work SAN by choreographer Vincent Mantsoe, in the US, South Africa and Europe.
Her most recent work, Who is this?... Beneath My Skin, in collaboration with French photographer Pascale Beroujon, premiered to great acclaim at the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Festival in Durban in September 2010.
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