The 2024 E-Stage winner, Dugulth “Junior King” Ferreira, set the tone at the opening night of the UDaba Dance Festival on Tuesday with a moving performance, providing the platform for what is to come.
Ferreira sent a strong message that coincided with 16 Days of Activism against GBV (gender-based violence) through his production, Violence Based on Gender, that was backed by guest speaker Nicki-Ann Rayepen, who spoke on how the art of dance could be further supported and grow in the metro.
Close to 100 people attended the opening of the dance festival at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex (MBTC) that will run until Saturday.
The productions in this year’s festival include Imbokodo from 2023 E-Stage winner Samkelo Sintwa and Xolisile Bongwana’s New Cage (The Dreamers).
Ferreira said it was an honour for him to return to the MBTC stage as a rapper, having frequented the venue often in his youth.
“I took a few days to come back for the festival; currently myself and Medusa are on a national tour for our latest album that was released last month,” he said.
“The production has a mixture of krump, contemporary and new school hip hop, where you dance in accordance to what the lyrics are telling you.
“Krump is an aggressive dance style; it can be misconstrued. It looks aggressive, but it is a spiritual dance to express.
“That is why I used it to express abuse from the perpetrator as well as the victim fighting against GBV.
“In the closing scene I chose to have the victim and the perpetrator uniting, choosing peace, because we can only win against GBV if we work together.”
Looking at the annual UDaba dance festival that is in its fourth year, Rayepen said she loved how the festival remained focused on the discipline of dance only as a performing arts genre.
“This festival provides funding to artists and groups to create new works, and provides the platforms for them to be seen,” she said.
“This is vital in the development of dance in the city as it enables artists to create new works, with production costs covered and paid for.”
Rayepen praised the efforts of keeping dance alive in the metro, saying that festivals and events played an integral part towards the growth of dance.
To ensure that the future of dance in the Bay was kept alive, she said that there was a need to create a dance-friendly environment, with access to venues and resources, along with supporting and nurturing local talent.
“Looking inwards, another aspect of dance development is community groups taking charge and offering dance workshops,” Rayepen said.
“An entity such as the ‘Keep Dancing Experience’ is a good example of this.
“These workshops are hosted at varying locations around the city, with a minimal entry fee of R20 per workshop, and when funded, these workshops are free of charge.”
The MBTC’s acting artistic programme manager, Sibabalwe Makeleni, said the festival was launched in 2022 in East London and had brought new stories, rhythms and voices in 2025.
“This week will become a space of unity, creativity and pride, not only of the Eastern Cape, but of the country at large,” Makeleni said.
“Annually the MBTC issues an open call for participation for all our programmes and the UDaba Dance Festival is no different.
“The producers that you will see on the stage went to an adjudication process; they applied to be part of this process.”
The Herald
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