DANCE

BALLROOM MAGIC AT PLAYHOUSE

The NBS and the South African Dance Teachers' Association present the ballroom and Latin American dance theatre spectacular, Shall We Dance, scheduled for the Playhouse Opera on February 22 at 14h30 and 19h30 and February 23 at 18h00. Michael de Pinna, recently seen in Annie, will be compering the show.

Directors Neville Letard and Caryl Cusens promise three shows of magic for ballroom and Latin American dance fans in this edition of Shall We Dance, the

sixth edition of the series.Tickets range from R12 to R35 with R15 tickets available for group bookings of 10 or more.

All profits from this year's Shall We Dance will be donated to the Von Memerty Kids Help Fund set up to raise money to help children with the extremely rare Maroteaux-Lamy Syndrome, specifically Valeska (4) and Oscar (16 months) von Memerty, the children of multi-talented South African duo, song- and-dance man Ian von Memerty and his wife, dancer Vivienne Lawrence.

BOLSHOI BALLET

Nothing could have provided stronger proof that Durbanites will turn out in their droves if there's something they really want to see - and pay top ticket prices from R75 to R150 - than the un-precedented sell-out advance booking for the eagerly-awaited world-renowned Russian Bolshoi Theatre Ballet and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy!

The Opera seats over 1200 - that's a lot of people paying a lot of money!

This prestigious company (see front cover) will appear in the Playhouse Opera on February 18 and 19 on their countrywide tour. The Playhouse pro-gramme will comprise excerpts from Swan Lake and a series of Divertisse-ments, including pieces of a decidedly Russian flavour.

The 10-strong group includes 40 dancers, technical and administrative staff with at least half the dancers drawn from soloists and members of the corps de ballet from the Bolshoi Theatre. The rest are stu-dents of the Bolshoi Academy, the trai-ning school of the Bolshoi Theatre.

(STOP PRESS: There will be a matinＦ at 14h00 on February 19)

TEA DANCES

Judy Victor and Bobby Minter's regular social ballroom dance evening, Tea Dances will be held on February 6.

The venue is the Umbilo Sports Club on the corner of Penzance and Umbilo Roads. The entrance fee is R10 pp.

For further details phone Bobby on 303-1642 or Judy on 84-8893.

JUNCTION AND BOLERO

The acclaimed Cape Town-based dance company, Jazzart Dance Theatre, offers a short season of contemporary South African dance from January 31 to February 2 in the Playhouse Opera.

The programme comprises Junction as well as Bolero, danced to Ravel's music.

DANCE 7

SIWELA SONKE

The official launch of the Playhouse Company's Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre company will take place in April at the Playhouse - an event which the company believes will establish it firmly as South Africa's newest and most innovative contemporary dance company.

The company of nine full-time dancers, now under the artistic directorship of Jay Pather, has been in a period of consoli-dation and training up until now.

Four new works will be performed for the launch. These include Family choreo- graphed by American dancer Blondell Cummings during her visit to South Africa last year and Heritage which is the work of Siwela dancer, teacher and choreographer Simpiwe Magazi.

In addition Jay Pather has begun crafting two new works And Then She Blue In and an as yet untitled piece which combines ancient legends of the Mahabaratha with Zulu praise poetry.

CHALLENGING

Siwela Sonke Dance Theatre is a young, energetic, challenging dance theatre company committed to bringing stimula-ting performances to our communities.

In 1994 the company began working on extending the performing arts council's dance language and opening up employ-ment opportunities for people whose dance training was not ballet.

Its work deals with issues such as gangsterism in high schools and abuse against women. These performances will visit schools, colleges, clinics, prisons, community halls, shopping malls, clubs, outlying villages and the beach front.

For details phone the Playhouse dance department on 369-9433.

DANCEFANS

The Playhouse Dance Company has started a fund called DanceFans through which supporters can make a contri- bution to the dance company's future via donations at corporate, individual and family levels.

Members of DanceFans will enjoy a host of benefits including performances and dance company activities.

Phone 369-9433 for details.

Eve Boswell