The popular festival boasts all genres of dance, from authentic isiPantsula to diverse classical, contemporary, dance theatre and performance art.
It has been scheduled from March 31 to April 7 2019 at the State Theatre, Tshwane.
It is made up of SA (host), Mali, Mozambique, Madagascar USA, Germany and Denmark.
The Dance Umbrella is celebrated for having carved the careers of dancers from an early age, drawn from all corners of the country in mzansi.
DUA curator and Deputy Artistic Director of SAST, Mamela Nyamza, explained the new vision of the festival, saying that the programme deliberately and unapologetically invited the youth and those artists still-to-be-discovered, as the majority participants of the re-launch.
“DUA has been resuscitated, revived and revamped by the SAST to ensure that such artistic programmes benefit the youth – especially for their creative growth and education and for the related spin-off of economic benefits for the nation and the continent,” he said, whose this year’s theme is ‘Figure-ring the State of Dance in Africa’
SAST’s Artistic Director, Aubrey Sekhabi said the aim of bringing diverse dance artists from across the African continent and the world is to positively contribute to our shared humanity and heritage:
“Most importantly, DUA is a committed effort to create a home for African Dance at the SAST. We want artists from the continent to have a home at SAST and artists from all parts of the world to come and share with us their stories through dance,” said Sekhabi.
