Lifetime achievement award presented to dance stalwart Loots
South African contemporary dance stalwart Dr Lliane Loots was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the opening of Jomba! last Tuesday.
The Centre for Creative Arts at the University of KwaZulu-Natal bestowed the award on Dr Loots, the curator and artistic director of the Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience.
The award was presented at the opening of the 25th edition of the Jomba! festival at the Elizabeth Sneddon Theatre on Tuesday August 29.
Dr Loots was awarded for championing the festival for over 25 years.
“For a quarter of a century under challenging funding environments, changing political landscapes, and varying socio-economic conditions, Dr Lliane Loots has championed the Jomba! Contemporary Dance Experience as South Africa’s longest-running dance festival and as one of the leading contemporary dance events on the African continent.
“The award recognises her visionary leadership, service to the cultural sector, and committed activism for dance education,” said Dr Ismail Mahomed, the director of the Centre for Creative Arts.
In 2021, under the leadership of Dr Loots, the Jomba! festival received the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Best Creations for work produced in the digital space during the Covid-19 pandemic. During the same year, Jomba! launched an annual colloquium to advance academic scholarship in African contemporary dance. In 2022, Jomba! was awarded the Business Arts South Africa Chairman’s Award for Arts and Education and Activism.
During her distinguished career, Dr Loots has also won numerous national choreographic awards and commissions. She has travelled the world extensively as an academic and artist in her own right. In 2017, the French government awarded her the Chevalier l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Knight of the Order of the Arts & Literature) Award for promoting extensive cultural collaborations between artists from France and South Africa.
For the past 25 years, since founding the Jomba! festival, Dr Loots has combined her curatorial work for Jomba! while simultaneously holding the position of dance lecturer in the Drama and Performance Studies Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (Howard College Campus).
She has a Master’s degree in Gender Studies and completed her PhD in 2018 looking at contemporary dance and performance histories on the African continent. She is the founder and artistic director of the now 20-year-old Flatfoot Dance Company that continues to contribute to the contemporary dance landscape of the country, as well as provide important dance training for youth in communities around Durban.
The Jomba! festival opened on Tuesday and runs until Sunday September 10 featuring performances, workshops, talks, digital offerings, an online festival news and review portal, a 25th anniversary book launch, and a dance for youth programme. The festival has a four-day satellite event at The Market Theatre in Johannesburg from Wednesday September 13 to Saturday September 16.
For more info go to www.jomba.ukzn.ac.za