MUSICDANCE CAPE TOWN 2026

The project will take place at Theatre Arts, Observatory, Cape Town,

Call to participate in MusicDance 2025 opens 16th August / Deadline: 16th September 2025

link to application FORM

21stNovember – 5th December 2026

MusicDance Cape Town is an intensive performance project for independent artists in the field of dance and music, supported by Theatre Arts since 2018. Now in its ninth year, the project draws together performing artists from diverse genres and backgrounds. The emphasis of the work is interdisciplinary and real-time composition. Audiences are invited to witness the forging of exciting new collaborations and unique expressions in music and dance performance.MusicDance was spearheaded by dancers Manuela Lucia Tessi and Thalia Laric in 2018, and the project was co-directed with dancer Leilah Kirsten in 2024.

In 2025 the project will be co-directed by Manuela Lucia Tessi and musician Coila-Leah Enderstein in collaboration with a core team

Team 2026:

Artistic Direction: Manuela Lucia Tessi, Coila-Leah Enderstein.

Music core-team: Garth Erasmus , Matteo Ringas, and guests to be announced.

Production: Kayla van der Merwe, Gemma Paton.

Photography: Tania Lea Vossgätter.

Lighting design and visuals: Frans Mandilakhe Zunguze, Lutho Booizen.

The team of facilitating artists is a group of experienced South African and international music and dance artists that have had long-lasting collaborations in similar projects. The performance project residency consists of an intensive period of workshops in which the participants are guided by the facilitating artists to practise the tools of interdisciplinary and real-time composition. The workshops lead towards the creation of performances. Each performance consists of a programme of different short compositions of sound and movement, text? with a different constellation (grouping) of musicians and dancers. All the compositions are created in the moment, based on real-time artistic choices in movement, sound, light and presence.

Schedule:

Saturday 21sth November 9am-1pm/ 2pm-5pm workshops

Sunday 22nd November : 9am-1pm/ 2pm-5pm workshops

*the artists will be divided into two groups, one group for the Saturday , one for the Sunday workshop

Monday 23rd November 5pm- 9pm rehearsals and tech

Tuesday 24th November 5pm- 9pm rehearsals and tech

Wednesday 25th November 8pm performance (call at 5pm)

Thursday 26th November 8pm performance (call at 5pm)

Friday 27th November 8pm performance (call at 5pm)

Saturday 28th November 9am-1pm/ 2pm-5pm workshops

Sunday 29th November 9am-1pm/ 2pm-5pm workshops

*all artists together both days

Mon 30th November OFF

Tuesday 1st December 5pm- 9pm rehearsals and tech

Wednesday 2nd December: 5pm- 9pm rehearsals and tech

Thursday 3rd December: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)

Friday 4th December: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)

Saturday 5th December: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)

Financial:

Participation fee of R2500

Artists can make a part or whole of this tuition back by selling at least 10 tickets to the shows. Each ticket is R125

We have chosen this financial model to make participation possible for everyone, make the project sustainable, and encourage artists to proudly share their performance work.

You will receive an updated and more detailed schedule once the participation is confirmed.

Website: https://musicdance.net/cape-town/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicdance021/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MusicDanceprojects/