ResDance

ResDance Series 6: Episode 6: The Politics of Contemporary Dance in South Africa with Sarahleigh Castelyn In this thought-provoking episode, Sarahleigh shares insight into her experiences as a dancer, choreographer and researcher. Through situating her thinking in her practice, we explore ideas on how contemporary dance in South Africa is a political art form, choreographic practices as activism, the importance of the moving body and the geography of space. Sarahleigh offers further reflections on how dance and choreography continue to inform her curiosity of practice. Sarahleigh is Reader at the University of East London (UK) and a performer, choreographer, and researcher: a dance nerd. She has performed in, and choreographed works, for example at JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience and The Playhouse. She recently was part of a screen dance residency with Ivan Barros and Pak Ndjamena with the outcome of a dance film titled HOME that was shared at the 25th Anniversary of JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience in September 2023. Her latest book is Contemporary Dance in South Africa: The Toyi-Toying Body (2022) develops an understanding of the body in contemporary dance and its political and social meanings both in the chosen performance and within the broader context of South African society from 2003-2007. Her work is centred on how contemporary dance in South Africa is a political art form that is at its core choreography as activism. Staff Bibliography link: https://uel.ac.uk/about uel/staff/sarahleigh-castelyn Contact details Email: [email protected] Social Media: @dr_sarahleigh Other social media handles of interest: Centre for Creative Arts Flatfoot Dance Company / @flatfootdanceco JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience / @jomba_dance Mhayise Productions Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre The Ar(t)chive Thobile Maphanga Val Adamson Photography VERSFELD & ASSOCIATES Published sources of interest 2024. JUMPING Over/Under/Across and Towards: Choreographic Statements/Collaborations/Exchanges and Intentions at JOMBA! In: Ballantyne, T. (ed) Archiving History and Memory: 25 Years of the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience. University of KwaZulu Press. 2023. We need to talk about Giselle JOMBA! Masihambisane Dialogues, Issue 23. 2022. Contemporary Dance in South Africa: The Toyi-Toying Body Cambridge Scholars Publishing 2022. Choreographing the Archive of a White Female South African JOMBA! Masihambisane Dialogues, Issue 2. 2021. Intimacy as a Political Act: Contemporary Dance in South Africa JOMBA! Masihambisane Dialogues, Issue 1. 2019. Saartjie Baartman, Nelisiwe Xaba, and me: the politics of looking at South African bodies South African Theatre Journal, 32:3. 2018. Choreographing HIV and AIDS in Contemporary Dance in South Africa In: Campbell, A., Gindt, D. (eds) Viral Dramaturgies. Palgrave Macmillan. 2018. Why I Am Not a Fan of the Lion King’: Ethically Informed Approaches to the Teaching and Learning of South African Dance Forms in Higher Education in the United Kingdom. In: Akinleye, A. (ed) Narratives in Black British Dance. Palgrave Macmillan Please share this episode with students, educators, practitioners, performers, and interdisciplinary researchers curious to learn more about dance research in action.