July 28, 2005
By Buhle Makabane
IN CELEBRATION of Women's Day, the Women in Arts Festival will feature the city's top female musicians, dancers, actors, crafters and photographers.
The festival, held in Newtown over five days from 5 to 9 August, is "to celebrate Women's Day and to spotlight women's talent", according to organiser Annie Williamson.
Women in Arts is supported and sponsored by the City of Johannesburg, through its economic development unit, and the Johannesburg Development Agency, as well as the Transnet Foundation and car maker Peugeot.
Performances and events will take place at various venues in Newtown, including on Mary Fitzgerald Square, at the Market Theatre and at the Dance Factory.
One of the highlights is the Women's Day Luncheon, which will be addressed by newly appointed Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.
The lunch, on Saturday 6 August, will be held in a marquee on Mary Fitzgerald Square, at R1 000 per person. Corporates can book tables of 10 for R10 000. For bookings call Nicole at Thebe Events on 011 794 8015.
Several other events are lined up for the festival:
Music
Kwani Experience kicks off the festival on Friday, 5 August, at Horror Café; on Saturday evening, again at Horror Café, Kwani Experience is joined by DJs Black Rabbit and Secret Crew.
Kwani Experience is on at Horror Café
Photo: Maverick Marketing
Also on Saturday at Carfax, A Touch of Something Feminine is the theme for the night as South Africa's top female DJs, including C4, Sistamic, Soulsista, Nina, Heather and artists TK and Thembi Seete, set the venue a-rocking until dawn.
Shivava Café hosts Uju, a new band that performs Afro-world music while over at Niki's Oasis Siya Makuzeni jazzes it up. Both programmes start at 10pm on Friday, 5 and Saturday, 6 August.
At Bassline on Friday night, Freshly Ground, pop rocker Louise Carver, and the Gang of Instrumentals perform. The programme starts at 9pm. On Saturday, Thandiswa Mazwai, Simphiwe Dana and Zamajobe take to Bassline's stage, also from 9pm.
Mini music concerts by Afrika Mamas, Cutt Glas and Antonal, as well as Spanish and Afro-fusion dance and a high-energy show from the four-piece SHE band, take place at the restaurants in the Market Theatre Precinct on Saturday, 6 August at 2.30pm.
The climax of the festival's musical programme is a free concert on Mary Fitzgerald Square on Women's Day, 9 August. In the line up are Malaika, Lebo Mathosa, Mahothella Queens, Karen Zoid, Ladies in Jazz and Running with Scissors.
Mahotella Queens will be performing at the free concert on Women's Day
Photo: Maverick Marketing
The concert starts at noon.
"For six hours, the feet of thousands of woman, men and children will be kept tapping to the sounds of South Africa's top musicians," Williamson says.
Theatre
Theatre lovers too, can look forward to a pack of productions.
Bezst Theatre at Couch and Coffee has performances each evening at 8pm of Unsung Heroines, a musical drama set in rural Eastern Cape. It pays tribute to Nontimbi Hoshela, a healer and diviner with a rare gift for helping women struggling to have children.
The Market Theatre presents Shreds and Dreams, written by Bongi Ndaba and directed by Claire Stopford, every evening at 8pm and at 2.30pm on Sunday, 7 August.
Described as a humorous and delightful drama, it tells the story of three young, black women trying to make their way in contemporary Johannesburg, each with her own perspective on life and with her own desires, fears and ambitions.
Dance
I of Dance, a new commission by Samantha Pienaar, is on at the Dance Factory, featuring the cream of South Africa's young female dance talent.
Other activities during the festival days include the Seeing Women photo exhibition, exploring the ideas and contradictions of women and femininity, and the Bus Factory's Women in Craft, a colourful display of craft made by the embroiderers and potters working at the factory.
The Bus Factory also hosts family workshops on drumming and printmaking for R5 per head.
For further information on tickets, bookings and performance times, call Manqoba on 083 319 5026 or Celestine on 073 253 7404.
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