ASSITEJ SA in partnership with the UJ Arts & Culture (a division of the Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture at University of Johannesburg) will be hosting a series of workshops by acclaimed theatre company, Pillow Fort Theatre, in creating work for young ages. Pillow Fort Theatre will tour to creches in the mornings and […]

The festival opening kicks off with Professor Keorapetse Kgositsile’s citation by Phillippa Yaa De Villiers, followed by the UJ Arts Academy poetry students’ production Behind these Eyes. Professional poets Sabelo Soko, Vangile Gantsho, Siphokazi Jonas and Mandi Vundla wrap up the evening. MAIN ACTS  Sabelo Soko Sabelo Soko is a writer (isiZulu and English), performer and […]

Hannah teaches the method “Speaking Body”- an improvisation method she created from the base of contemporary and classical dance, yoga and acting methods. Workshops will start with the ‘Speaking body’ and will be followed by engagement with some of her choreographic material, and a short improvisation section. Hannah Ma is a German-Chinese choreographer. Her focus lies on contemporary rituals […]

In SWAN we meet S. a (young) man who lost his mind and his soul. Overwhelmed by social pressure and expectations, he cannot find his true and holistic self anymore. He is trapped in his own world where realities are shifting and is not able to bring his fragmented ‘self’ back to a sense of […]

The event aims to expose artists, theatre companies and children to professional, quality theatre from around the world and broaden the scope and impact of theater for young audiences nationally. Come and hear all about this amazing event next scheduled for August 2019 and our strategy for the next 10 years in reaching and including […]

Join us for a lecture and conversation with public intellectual, educator, writer, activist and artist: Prof Antonia Darder. With responses by Prof David Andrew, Brenden Gray, Rangoato Hlasane & Puleng Plessie VIAD, STAND and UJ Arts & Culture are thrilled to host an intimate conversation with public intellectual, artist and activist Prof Antonia Darder. Darder’s scholarship […]

Impiliso is a healing space for everyone who needs to find healing. Odwa Bongo recently went through a rough time in his life where he suffered from anxiety which almost led him towards depression. He spent two weeks in his room, feeling miserable and helpless. Luckily for him, music spoke to him. He started writing […]

The UJ Band was born on the sports fields of UJ’s Soweto Campus in 2014, and – facilitated by Thapelo Halala Motaung – comprises more than 20 musical talents, with a vast repertoire ranging from jazz to popular music. Joining them is UJ Arts & Culture’s 50-member community choir, the UniJoh Chorale, conducted by Kholisa Bulo and […]

Drawing inspiration from the various cultural backgrounds of four choreographers, this contemporary dance season, presented by the Oakfields College Faculty of Dance and Musical Theatre, explores the concept of –home, and what it represents to young people living in post-apartheid South Africa. Dance students will work with acclaimed choreographers Ignatius van Heerden and Sonia Radebe, […]

Breaking the Norm explores the journey of a young Muslim girl in an ordinary world, who faces not-so-ordinary situations, having to live through a constant battle between herself and others who see her as different, even though they are molded from the same clay. The challenge emerges between expression and ignorance, as well as facing issues […]

Developed under the guidance of award-winning choreographers Sunnyboy Motau and Oscar Buthelezi of Moving into Dance Mophatong (MIDM), Imagine | Ofetoge features UJ Arts Academy afro-fusion, traditional Zulu,  contemporary, hip hop, Latin and ballroom dancing, and ballet dance students, teaming up with the Argentinian Tango Student Society and UJ Drumming to present a variety performance […]

This theatre production explores the dual identity of young black, South African girls, who – in an effort to straddle two disparate socio-economic worlds – experience a loss of identity. The play focuses on the lives of two young black girls post-1994, as they struggle to accommodate their marginalised township life within the context of […]

iKati is derived from the Zulu idiom ‘iKati lilele’ziko’, which means an extreme hunger where nothing can be done except beg or look for a job. iKati is accompanied by music, physical theatre, dance and sound, creating a spiritual journey. It takes the audience along the story of a young man abandoned at birth and left in […]

The Johannesburg Youth Orchestra, from the JYOC, will perform a selection of well-known classics and pop songs, featuring Timothy Moloi and Zita Pretorius and some other surprises!!Come and listen to hits like, Cry me a River, Beneath your Beautiful, The Prayer, Touch the Sky (from Brave) and many more!!! The show will be conducted by our […]

After operating for many years undiscovered as vigilantes, The Queen Mothers are now in exile. Men call their truth History but entitle ours as Feminism. This is no “ism” that should be backed by philosophers but a truth that has been heavy on our mother’s backs. Director | Khutjo Green Playwright| Lihliqiniso Msomi Featuring|  Ofentse […]

‘Pain creates writers; hurt creates art’. #Trash is an all-female cast with various stories to tell. It’s usually said that a woman can never break, but she does bend. However, in this play you will see shattered hope, spirit and heart.  Faith is the most important attribute on which to rely in these dark times. […]

Living in a time where they find themselves endangered, the women of Ubukho-Ville conjure alternative ways to stay alive and ways to demand space in their communities. The fury the women of Ubukho-Ville feel, due to the injustices cast upon their bodies, gives birth to the spirits of uNogwaja and uMvundla. uNogwaja and uMvundla refer to themselves […]

The newly-formed Johannesburg Youth Big Band will perform a selection of Classical music with a touch of jazz to show you how these genres can meet. The debut performance of this combination of the JHB Youth Jazz ensemble and JHB Youth Symphonic Wind Band is Jazz like you have never heard before. Conducted by John […]

Choir Boy tells the story of a young man who wants nothing more than to take his rightful place as leader of the school’s legendary gospel choir. Can he find his way inside the hallowed halls of this institution if he sings in his own key? From its premiere at the National Arts Festival, where is […]

The crippling impact of a class system, and the notion that all are haunted, in some way, by the ghosts from the past, are examined. Buried Voices is a contemporary, multi-lingual re-telling of Strindberg’s Ghost Sonata, which translates the play’s core themes into a contemporary South African context. Although centred within a classical text, the […]

This three-hour movement composition and dance knowledge exploration caters to all body types, ages and levels of experience.  The first hour of the workshop introduces participants to movement theory by focusing on Forsythean Points of Co-ordination, playing with oppositions, as well as positive and negative spaces. The second hour of the programme continues to play […]

I,dentity :: A journey of self-exploration through physicality and interrogation of the ‘I’. Travelling through the Khoi-San and Coloured journey, using expressive movement, this piece seeks to unravel the nuances of what makes us who we are, as well as the frictions of ‘becoming’. Tomorrow Today :: Tomorrow Today is a play about days personified, and plays out in […]