Hundreds of South African matriculants were urged to follow their passions in life and cherish freedom of expression. Artsblog attended the launch of the five-day Standard Bank National Schools Festival in the Guy Butler Theatre at the Grahamstown Monument this morning. South Africa’s dancer of the moment, Soweto-born Dada Masilo told the keyed up youths to follow their dreams, but know that 99 percent of success is from hard work and one percent is talent. She dances eight hours a day and keeps her work fresh Standard Bank Arts sponsorship manager Mandy van der Spuy says the arts inspire our  youth to excel, debate and challenge.. Makana Municipal manager Ntombi Baart says council has coped well with numerous festivals, all of which added ...

I gotta get this down, don’t think, must tell you, just need a cup of strong coffee, oh shit I hit the plunger hard, gotta rush, need speed, coffee splooshed out all over, light brown, no, mustard, no just skin, Dada Masilo and dancers’ skin, under stars, celestial, but what am I saying, best show ever, best for last, Sunday arvie, South African Sunday, South African, African, South African creativity, don’t stop it, ever, don’t abuse it, let if flow. I’m drinking and drinking, with the grains, hot and gritty. Swan Lake, Dada is only 25 years old, you got to see her, to be here, to look into her dance, her dancers her choreography, such grace, such power, so radical. RADICAL!. So ...

Young black professionals from South African cities arrived at the National Arts Festival last night and had a huge party. They were celebrating the last night of the two-week festival. Grahamstown’s New Street was “like Rockey Street in Yeoville, back in the day, but it was very black” said an observer. “It was cars, people in the streets, the boots open, the music pumping, quite a bit of house, a bit of rock. People were on their mobiles setting up the jol. It was distinctly black. “It was nice-cut clothes, eighties/London/punk rock-look everyone is taking on now. It was peeps showing on the street their right/entitlement to be here. It was a mix. Young black artists, but also the party crew following the artists, ...

It’s been bugging me. The stand-up comedy I saw at festival  …  something was missing. I saw David  Newton, Siv Ngesi, Mark Sampson and Stewart Taylor. All good shows. Mark is a hoot and is a great improv, Stewart, David and Siv are well produced, slick even. Great, hard-working, honest, South African guys (you are in Mark!) and a safe festival ticket. So why was I feeling this emptiness? Young audiences seemed to get it and maybe, as my 73-year-old friend said: “You are old.” Well, as a pimply teen I recall watching the late Pip Freedman (I think). It made my gut weak with laughter. You wanted todie laughing. “You won’t say that now,” said my older mate. “You’ll cringe”. He’s referring to Pip's take on people ...

After a battle with visa police, Oliver Mtukudzi finally arrived in Grahamstown  to eager crowds. If you didn't have a ticket you weren't getting in!! The first time I saw this tall man performing I was at House-on Fire in Swaziland and have subsequently seen him elsewhere. The rolling music reminds me of these journeys and transports me to a place beyond where I am. He says a few beautiful words "You can use music when you are lonely or when you are working like I am working now. (laughter). But most of all we use music to diffuse tension. The purpose of song is to give life to people. When we are frustrated we use music to diffuse that pain." He is ...

Because this is/was Student theatre there was a small, but big in spirit, audience. What a shame. Irreverent, post-modern, therefore also inter-textual, absolutely brilliant, with no need for making a concession to Nation Building through a need for arts funding.  These Stellenbosch students did a piece of what might be the most 'important' theatre here.  Absolutely shredding, well, I was shredded.  Mbongeni Ngema and Percy Mtwa were talking of doing a revisit of Woza Albert! after the great elections.  Well, here it is, and the rainbow nation children are slaughtered in racial, nationalistic strife.  These kids say it as it is.  Be warned, be very afraid. And the artistry is faultless. Why, oh why, did not more people see this. Related ...

Undoing. Inspiring. A meditation. To walk ... very slowly. To be still. To follow. To share. Who leads?  There are also trees, and their shadows.  And the wind, and leaves blown.  And, there is the audience.  Do it.  Do it to calm your soul. The Goldberg Variations. Do it to fill the hole in the soul. Related posts:Woza Andries by Sheena Stannard Ouroboros – Comment by Sheena Stannard Inscrutable, Elev(i)ate, London Road & Kaput – Comment by Sheena Stannard.

On Fest Focus, our reporters have gone backstage to chat to jazz legends Vusi Mahlasela and Sibongile Khumalo, and also got the chance to catch up with hiphop star Tumi. And if you have missed out on our daily shows, you can find some of our comedy and theatre highlights, such as Big Boys Don't Dance and NATV's 12 Days of Festival song, right here... Interview: Vusi Mahlasela Interview: Sibongile Khumalo Feature: Big Boys Don't Dance Interview: Tumi Audio Interview: Tony Lankester Audio Feature: Janni Younge Song: NATV's 12 Days of Fest Audio Interview: Gavin Bonner Audio Feature: London Road Related posts:Audio: Fest Focus Highlights Audio: Fest Focus Highlights 27 June 2010 Audio: Fest Focus Highlights 28 June 2010

A (very) small cast but a big show.  Very satisfying.  Superbly designed, the interpretation of the female characters -- in both performance and dress -- was particularly pleasing to me.  Audience members who leave this venue during the show do so with a great clunking, and at gobsmackingly insensitive moments in the performance! So, if you are going to see this, for art's sake, if not for the sake of mere manners, know that it is Shakespeare, and be prepared for the long haul.  It does not seem long, by the way.  It's so rich. (No joke intended.)  Related posts:Long Street by NoCoolSpot Sparks fly in Shakespeare unplugged Decadence is rich

When I see shows like this I believe there is hope for the planet we are so blindly destroying with our eyes wide open.  Poignant, visually lovely, beautifully crafted (except for the rather muffled and inexpertly interpreted vocal text), the show is gentle and full of heart.  My teenage daughters distanced themselves from it, being less involved in the experience than I was.  But they were sitting quite far back.  I, on the other hand, let go and allowed myself to be swept into it, as if in a dream, and thus didn't come out of the show singing songs from The Lion King, and having found puppet sex just too bizarre.  So, don't go to this show if you ...