ONE OF THE ingredients necessary in every generation is a voice of fire. Particularly if it is a generation beset by hurt. Sandile Dikeni had that inimitable quality. A poet, an arts editor and a man of words who originated in a thirsty Karoo hamlet in an apartheid-stained […]
IT ISN’T EVERY day that one hears of a South African artist who took their work to the ultimate in commercial possibility, without, on many levels, allowing it to lose its idiosyncratic flavour. With an oft-spoken injunction against ordinariness that punted being extraordinary with a bit of naughtiness […]
WHEN YOU HOLD a match to something flammable, you will get an explosion. But it need not be a destructive one: Pantsula dancer Ayanda Nondlwana aka “Fire Starter” or “Ace” was that kind of flammable, in the dance sphere. All the people who touched his life enabled him […]
PETITE YET FEISTY, full of passion and dance knowledge, Maxine Denys held the flame for classical ballet with an innate sense of dynamite. But more than just dance technique, she was a woman of wit and charisma, who not only gave Sleeping Beauty’s Carabosse the verve she requires, […]
Researched by Robyn Jordaan COMPLETE WITH HER freshly applied lipstick and her internal fierceness in the face of the ordinary, Christine Basson shied from the light of media sensationalism, but had the temerity to take on some of South African theatre’s most controversial roles luminously. She raised a […]
TRIBUTE TO ANDY MCGIBBON, RESEARCHED BY ZOE MOLL. MUSIC IS A complicated craft. Not only is it about tunes and compositions, technique and tone; it’s also about the object from which the music comes: a world of six strings, spruce and mahogany, the guitar has the capacity to […]
MULTI-TALENTED MASTER OF fiercely bright colours and the unequivocal backbone of the Durban arts community, Andrew Verster was known for his magnificent fine art and theatre design, as well as his contribution to the National Arts Festival. He wrote, mentored and allowed the audacity of art to run […]
TRIBUTE TO PULE KGARATSI, RESEARCHED BY LERATO NTILI. A humble mentor, beautiful dancing talent and gifted educator, Pule Kgaratsi was one of the formative dancers of Moving Into Dance Mophatong. He was killed in a shoot-out South of Johannesburg on 30 July 2017. He was 51. Orphaned at […]
TRIBUTE TO JOHN W FREDERICKS BY MATTHEW VAN DER WALT. THE WRITER BEHIND the award-winning films Noem My Skollie and Shooting Bokkie, John W Fredericks, passed away peacefully after a long battle with pancreatic cancer, on 7 July 2019. He was 73. Having made peace with his own […]
TRIBUTE TO GIVEN MKHIZE RESEARCHED BY DANIELLE ROODT. “WHAT YOU SEE is what you get,” were the words accomplished South African actor, choreographer and dancer Given Phumlani Mkhize used to describe himself on social media. This skilled and delightful performer literally left his heart and soul onstage, on […]
Recent Comments