The JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience hosted by the Centre for Creative Arts (CCA) within the College of Humanities won this year’s Chairperson’s Advocacy Award at the virtual Business and Arts South Africa (BASA) Awards.

Each year, BASA bestows the Chairperson’s Advocacy Award on an organisation or individual selected by the BASA Chair. It recognises sustained and extraordinary commitment to the arts in South Africa in the form of advocacy and awareness initiatives and/or direct support for the arts, whether in a personal or professional capacity at a local, national or international level.

Accepting the award, UKZN dance lecturer and JOMBA! Artistic Director, Dr Lliane Loots, thanked BASA for honouring the Festival and for holding the value and the zeitgeist temerity of contemporary dance in South Africa as a valuable art form.

‘It has been a long and beautiful 23-year journey to this place. My gratitude to the JOMBA! and CCA team who have held this festival so carefully over the years. It is important that dance is recognised in this way and that JOMBA!’s work in forging artistic and academic partnerships within Africa is also honoured. For me, it has been a 23-year love project and I am humbled and grateful for this recognition,’ said Loots.

BASA Chairperson, Ms Charmaine Soobramoney said, ‘Centred on connecting contemporary dance practitioners from across the globe, the focus and purpose of JOMBA! is to support and nurture the growth of critical contemporary dance in South Africa. Guided by this vision, over the last two decades, Dr Loots and the JOMBA! team have successfully linked important academic spaces with critical artistic practices, connected dance practitioners from across Africa and the world, and made a hugely positive contribution in firmly placing South Africa on the global contemporary dance map.’

CCA Director Dr Ismail Mahomed added, ‘This is the second major award won by the JOMBA! Festival this year. Earlier this year, JOMBA! was awarded the Best Digital Creations Award by the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences. These awards are testament to the deep commitment, vision and passion with which Dr Loots drives the festival and continues to grow it to be relevant to both UKZN’s teaching, learning and research programme as well as how the Festival can serve South Africa’s creative and cultural economies.’