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Choreographer | Academic Researcher | Theatre-Maker | PhD | Associate Professor
Languages: English, Afrikaans (fluent); German, Japanese, French (conversational)
PROFILE
Acclaimed artist-scholar with over 30 years of international experience in dance, choreography and theatre-making. A pioneer of Butoh in Africa and a leading practitioner in crafting decolonial performance strategies and scholarly inquiry. Ongoing research and creative works consider animism, animal-human embodiment, dance as philosophy, indigenous aesthetics, and transformation in their structure and delivery.
EDUCATION
PhD, Dance & Performance Studies – University of Cape Town (2022)
MA, Dance Studies – University of Cape Town (2014)
BA Hons (First Class), Dance Research – University of Cape Town (2013)
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Non-Western choreographic principles and Indigenous Methodologies
Embodied Decoloniality and Dance as Philosophy
Practice-as-Research and the Liminal Body
Personhood, Transformation, and Butoh
SELECTED CREATIVE WORKS
Performed across Africa, Europe, Asia, and the Americas.
Signature Solo Work: Daai za Lady (1995–present) – Performed in theatres, festivals, museums
Recent Works:
Atlas of Remote Islands, Cape Town Opera (Director, 2025)
And Then… (2018–2024): Solo work presented in theatres, festivals, Zambia, and digital platforms. Ongoing dance series, includes a dance film nominated for a Naledi (2022) Awarded UCT Creative Works Meritorious Prize (2022)
Ai, Irma Stern Museum (2023) Groundbreaking performance: duet with a live horse
Awarded UCT Creative Works Meritorious Prize (2024)
Voete van ‘n Gemsbok, Oppiewater Kunstefees (2022)
Of Dreams & Dragons, ICA Live Art Festival (2017)
African Angels, International opera tour (2013–2016)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
And Then…: Revealing the Teachings of the Praying Mantis, UCT (2024)
Nurturing the Relational Body, OnCurating (2023)
Visceral Migrations, Black Embodiments Studio (2022)
Who do you think you are to speak tyo me like that? (Wits University Press, 2021)
Butoh and the Third Space, OnCurating (2021)
Re-imaging Race through Daai za Lady & Butoh, Brill (2021)
Translate(ral) Bodies through Daai za Lady, South African Theatre Journal (2019)
Forthcoming Monograph (2025): Choreographing Rebellion (Bloomsbury Publishing, UK)
SELECTED COMMISSIONS & COLLABORATIONS
San-Nin Tango – German-Japanese-SA collaboration (2012)
Xclaim – Dutch-South African dance project (2002)
Faranani – Commissioned solo for Nelson Mandela and Dutch Royal Family (2002)
Daai za Lady… – Performed at Zeitz MOCAA (2017, 2018)
Transmitter – Performed in Tokyo and Singapore (2010)
GRANTS & HONOURS
UCT Meritorious Creative Works Prize (2022, 2024)
UCT Leadership Program (2024)
And Then… nominated for a Naledi Award (2023)
NRF Thuthuka Grant (2019, 2023)
David & Elaine Potter Fellowship (2016)
Japan Foundation International Performance Grant (2011)
Bunka Cho Scholarship, Japanese Ministry of Culture (2005)
Solo for Nelson Mandela, Holland, (2002)
FNB/Vita Award: Best Female Dancer (1996)
