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NMB DANCE FESTIVAL – Where stars are born

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The Nelson Mandela Bay Dance Festival celebrates its 43 rd year in 2024. It’s a testament to the resilience of the arts, and dance in particular, that the NMB Dance Festival continues to thrive. It will run on the Savoy Theatre stage from the 26th to the 31st of August this year. It provides the perfect platform for young dancers to showcase their skills across a multitude of genres. Over the last four decades, and counting, the NMB Dance Festival has been the breeding ground for many young dancers who have gone on to enjoy successful careers both nationally and internationally.

Marlene Rubidge is rightly regarded as the doyen of ballet in Nelson Mandela Bay in a dancing and teaching career that has spanned no-less than 6 decades. “My first teaching post was 60-years ago at Herschelle Girls High School in Cape Town. It feels like yesterday,” smiles Rubidge.

Many of her students have gone on to forge highly successful professional careers in the world of dance, including Megan du Plessis and Megan Henegan who were both with Cape Town City Ballet. Robyn Hendricks became a lead dancer for the Australian Ballet Company while Elizel Long danced with Rambert in the UK. “One of my Graaff-Reinet pupils Chinelle Lehman now teaches in the Karoo town and every year she brings a number of her students to Nelson Mandela Bay to dance in our festival,” says Rubidge.

Defying Gravity dance studio is one of the largest dance studios in Nelson Mandela Bay and one of the NMB Dance Festival’s most ardent supporters. Not only does this studio strive to give its dancers the best dance-education possible, it also aims to empower its teachers. Lauren McCarthy and Heidi Sampson have worked closely with all their teachers to ensure that they achieve a wide variety of teaching diplomas in dance. “It is something that we as a studio are very proud of,” said McCarthy. “Eight of our teachers are now armed with dance-diplomas and have helped prepare the studio for the upcoming festival. We believe as a teacher you are a lifelong learner who is forever growing and trying to improve.” Carmen’s School of Dance and the Susan Zerbst School of Ballet are also ardent supporters of the NMB Dance Festival every year. Nadine du Plessis is one of the Carmen’s School of Dance’s many success stories. She started dancing with dance school owner Carmen de Sousa at the tender age of six where she fell in love with the timeless dance form of ballet. Nadine won many accolades while dancing at NMBDF, including the Merril Lane Platter Award four times. She was twice crowned Junior Champion, at the age of 13 and 14. Nadine moved to Cape Town at the age of 15 where she continued her training at the Jacqui Pells Dance Academy. In August of 2022 she joined the Arles Youth Ballet Company in France. She recently signed with the Cape Town City Ballet and is set to start her first season with them. Luhle Mtati started formal ballet training at the Susan Zerbst School of Ballet in 2015 and made his stage debut at NMBDF in 2016 and celebrated many remarkable awards over the years. These awards included a sponsorship from Diane Cheeseman, to attend the Cape Junior Ballet Summer Intensive Workshop in Cape Town and a sponsorship from Janet Lindup. In 2021 Luhle attended Dance for All South Africa for 6 months and danced at the Mowbray Ballet Academy with Robin van Wyk and Johnny Bovang. He danced in their productions Coppelia, Peter Pan and the Nutcracker. In 2022 Luhle was accepted as a Junior Corps de Ballet member at Joburg Ballet. He was promoted to Coryphee (Senior Corps de ballet Member) at the beginning of this year. He has danced in the following ballets – La Traviata, Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet, Sleeping Beauty, Don Quixote and the Nutcracker.

Like Luhle, Likhaya Loyiti trained with the Susan Zerbst School of Ballet. With a number of awards from NMBDF under his belt including the Best Senior Dancer and the bursary, he then went on to audition for the Apprenticeship Programmme of Cape Town City Ballet and was offered an Apprenticeship contract for 2024.

Candice Johnstone is another highly respected dance instructor in Nelson Mandela Bay and her pupils are regular winners on the NMB Dance Festival stage. Anna van den Bergh who now dances with WGRUV Dance Company was one of Candice’s star pupils for many years, will be the official scribe at this year’s festival. The gala evening will also feature its youngest ever MC in 20-year-old Gemma Bisseker. Like Anna, she honed her dance craft with Candice Johnstone and Marlene Rubidge and is currently completing her third and final year of studies at the Luitingh Alexander Musical Theatre Academy in Cape Town.

Gemma recently signed her first professional musical contract with Pieter Toerien and Cape Town Opera for My Fair Lady which launches in December.

NMBDF will continue to be a testament to the vibrant dance community and will leave a lasting impact onall who participate and attend.

Tickets for the festival can be purchased at the door of the Savoy Theatre for R50 per person per day. Gala tickets for Saturday, 31 August for R120 per person, on www.webtickets.co.za.

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