To get to “The Final $tage,” Chicago Dance Crash’s first live, local performance since the pandemic begin, I arrived at the front desk of Lakeshore Sport & Fitness, located at a bustling Fullerton Ave. spot that’s sort of Lakeview and sort of Lincoln Park. A few friendly staff members helped me sign my life away—waivers and disclaimers and uploaded IDs aplenty—and then directed me to four flights of stairs lined with breadcrumbs in the form of yellow balloons.

Thobile Maphanga, curator mentee for this year’s JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience, introduced the African Crossings Platform by reminding viewers of a crucial festival directive: creating connections with some of Africa’s most prominent, groundbreaking and inspiring dancemakers. The program, which featured four commissioned screen dance films from Robert Ssempijja (Kampala, Uganda), Bernardo Guiamba aka Pak Ndjamena (Maputo, Mozambique), Gaby Saranouffi (Antananarivo, Madagascar) and Marcel Gbeffa (Cotonou, Benin), certainly delivered on this imperative.

In 1967, Phyllis Wills and fellow teacher Kerry Hubata had been teaching ballet at Gus Giordano’s Evanston studio for three and a half years. When it became clear that the ballet division of the school was not bringing in enough revenue to sustain itself, Gus reluctantly told them, “You’re free to open your own school.” They had no intention of buying the building on Central Street that became the Evanston School of Ballet. All they wanted to do was find a space to rent where they could continue teaching together. Today, some 53 years later, the school continues to thrive.

What does it mean to belong? What does it mean to be resilient? What does it mean to be yourself? These are just some of the questions asked by the “African Crossings” performances during the 2021 JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience. Four dance films premiered Tuesday and featured work by Robert Ssempijja, Bernardo “Pak” Guiamba, Gaby Saranouffi, and Marcel Gbeffa. I was immediately drawn in by the first piece, “Alienation,” by Ssempijja and this focus continued as the very different pieces were unveiled.

The collaborative efforts between Georgina Thomson and Vrystaat Kunste Vees of the New Dance Festival and JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience culminated in the premieres of two dance films as part of their South African “Crossings” series. Since its inception in 2004, this residency program brings choreographers, composers and dancers together with a shared desire to create thought-provoking work through a diverse lens. This year’s chosen choreographers were Sylvester Thamsanqa Majela and Sizakele Mdi.

On Aug. 29, the 23rd JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience released the second digital iteration of its Open Horizons short and long form film platforms. The short form category, featuring films from 1-3 minutes in length, brought together screen dance works submitted by artists across the African continent with representation from South Africa, Madagascar, and Kenya among the seven finalists.

Seeking to share the stories of the Namaqua people and incorporate contemporary dance into their own spaces, choreographer Byron Klassen brings us into the homes, yards, churches and communal gatherings of the copper mining community of O’okiep located in the northern region of Namaqualand, South Africa. 

Editor's note: This preview was commissioned by the JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience and is co-published in English and isiZulu on the JOMBA! festival blog.

“TEN” is an ambitious and highly physical work by UK-based choreographer José Agudo in collaboration with the dancers of ACE Dance and Music. While it originally premiered in 2017, it is being shown virtually as part of JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience’s 23rd annual festival. Its themes of leaving home, migration and imagined destinies are especially poignant now as we have all spent the last year and a half in and out of various stages of lockdown.