Dance as Activism in South Africa

Contemporary Dance in South Africa, The Toyi-Toying Body, is written by Dr Sarahleigh Castelyn, Reader/Associate Professor in Performing Arts.

This book explores when and how, and to what effect, the body in South African contemporary dance protests, subverts, or represents a site of the struggle against oppressive forces of power. It considers how the dancing body is choreographed, what meanings lie behind the movements it makes in space, the possible effect of these movements, how and why it is costumed, and its relationship to its setting and space.

Dr Castelyn said,

My book examines a selection of contemporary South African dance works, including Flatfoot Dance. Using both critical study of these works and my own practice research, the book develops an understanding of the body in contemporary dance and its political and social meanings both in the chosen performance and within the broader context of South African society from 2003-2007.

This provides a snapshot of the practice and concerns of contemporary dance in just over a decade from the first democratic national elections in 1994. Contemporary dance in South Africa tells the story of the nation - its past, present, and possible future.”

The book is published by Cambridge Scholars.

Sylvia “Magogo” Glasser, founder of Moving into Dance Mophatong praised the book.

"This is definitely a book worth reading and studying for researchers, contemporary dance choreographers, students, teachers as well as other performing artists and audiences who think deeply, question constantly, and value originality.

“Sarahleigh Castelyn succeeds with insight and clarity in her goal to integrate theory and practice of contemporary dance in a refreshing and innovative manner. Her embodied identification with, and reference to the “toyi toyi”, a South African dance of demonstration, power, purpose and disruption, situates her work and identity strongly as a form of socio-political resistance against the racism, injustice, inequality, sexism and prejudice still rife in post-Apartheid South Africa," Sylvia expressed.

Dr Sarahleigh Castelyn is a performer, choreographer, and researcher. She is also Postgraduate Research Degree Leader. Her work focuses on race, gender, sexuality, and nation in Apartheid and post-Apartheid South Africa, the politics of hybridity, and the use of practice as a research methodology.

 She has performed in, and choreographed performance works. These include at JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Festival, The Playhouse, and the National Arts Festival, all in South Africa.

She has authored chapters in Viral Dramaturgies (2018) and Narratives in Black British Dance (2018), as well as articles in journals such as The African Performance Review, Dance Theatre Journal, Animated, African Performance Review, and The South African Theatre Journal

Link to purchase the book: Contemporary Dance in South Africa: The Toyi-Toying Body - Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Sarahleigh will host a book launch. The details are:

At the USS Campus on Friday 19 May 2023 18:30 - 20:00 BST in US.3.38 

And online on 1 June at 1600 UK time. Click to register

Please contact PerformanceResearchDevelopmentGroup@uel.ac.uk for more information.

Photo credit: Photo by Val Adamson. Courtesy Val Adamson, Centre for Creative Arts, and JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience