Our Mission
Founded in 2018, and the first of its kind in Pietermaritzburg, the Bonwa Dance Company (BDC) is a collaborative non-profit organization (NPO 211- 052) that seeks to spread dance through educational, commercial and recreational platforms, nationally and internationally. BDC is all about promoting a healthy public and global life through the arts, especially through dance. We believe that dancing can bring us closer to realizing our Ubuntu and eventually Eudaemonia (human flourishing).
Bonwa Dance Company believes that dance is the key to a sustainable and healthier future for our nation as well as our global community. We have personally witnessed the power of dance to heal, mend and bridge gaps between people, individually and collectively. The BDC has dedicated our efforts to the advancement dance/dance education for all peoples regardless of race, gender, ability, age, and background. We stand on the shoulders of giants like Athol Furgard who urged us to “dance life like champions” and avoid societal collisions; Friedrich Nietzsche who appealed to us to “put ourselves on our proper legs” and learn to dance also with our “ideas, words and even the pen”; Isadora Duncan who inspired us to pursue freedom unapologetically and to embody beauty and truth; Martin Luther King Junior who reminded us to live a committed life where one bears witness to the eternal principles of love, justice, truth, and leading a three dimensional life.
Instructors
Bonwa Mava Mbontsi [Founder and Artistic Director] is a dancer, choreographer, teacher and fitness instructor based in KZN, Pietermaritzburg. He first started dancing and performing in 2006 and has since been a committed dance theatre practitioner. In 2010, Bonwa was a top 16 finalist on So You Think You Can Dance (South Africa) Season 2. He graduated from UKZN, Pietermaritzburg, where he obtained aBA in Psychology and Drama & Performance Studies, with a specific focus on dance performance and choreography. In 2012 he interned at The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collectivein where he had the opportunity to work with renowned choreographers and dancers, PJ Sabbagha, Fana Tshabalala, Shanell Winlock, and Craig Morris. He taught at Maritzburg College for four years, and during that time, co-founded ReRouted Dance Theatre. He currently spends his time growing BDC: running theyouth outreach work in Pietermaritzburg and Melmoth in association with J.A.W. (Justice and Women), performing extensively both locally and nationally, and teaching at local schools, fitness, and wellness centres around Pietermaritzburg.
Teianna Chenkovich is an artist from Seattle, Washington that holds a BA in Dance and Anthropology from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. Her interdisciplinary interest in anthropology and dance, as well as social justice, play, and improvisation drive her work as a performing artist, educator, and choreographer. She has been teaching 9 years and completed the Creative Dance Center Summer Dance Institute for Teachers led by Anne Green Gilbert in 2017. Her passion for globally minded education has led her to Pietermaritzburg where she is currently teaching and performing with the Bonwa Dance Company while researching dance education in South Africa. Her most recent project is the development of an international Creative Dance Digital Exchange Program that will connect dance students from institutions around the world.
Super Troupers Outreach Programme
The Super Troupers is an outreach programme facilitated by the BDC that prides itself on its integrative approach to dance education, performance opportunities and youth empowerment in disadvantaged communities. The Super Trouper’s programme is seeking funding for its 2019 season to transport learners to and from critical performance opportunities. Contact bonwabise@gmail.com or check out our Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/bonwadance) for more information on how you can contribute.
Class Offerings
The BDC can offer the dance styles listed below as weekly group classes, workshops, private lessons, parties, and corporate events. We also offer choreography for ceremonies, musicals, festivals, weddings, events, choral groups, and other groups or individuals. Please be in contact with BDC about any performance opportunities, choreography, or classes.
African Diasporic Dance
Music videos, musical theatre, breakdancing, tap, J-pop, and voguing all share something in common: they come from a lineage of North African dance. When the African peoples were spread across the globe their culture came with them. Their dance and music has drastically shaped the world and the media landscape we inhabit. Let us honour and acknowledge Africa’s impact on global culture by learning how the key principals of North African Dances live on in a diversity of styles.
Improvisation & Choreography
How does one go about creating choreography? In this class we will explore different choreographic methods and improvisational tools that can be used to craft movement. Learners will use these methods to begin work on their own dance! Creating choreography doesn’t have to be intimidating, but can be an exciting way to challenge yourself as a dancer and artist.
BalletRIP
BalletRIP represents the optimal fitness model- intelligently integrating all anatomical dimensions, planes and paradoxes of movement underlined by the principals of sports science. By making the principles of classical ballet explicit and transparent through simple, fun and dynamic movement sequences, participants learn how to stand, how to move and, in so doing, wield mind and body together and create stunningly beautiful form.
Contemporary Ballet
This class takes a fun and lively approach to a traditional ballet class. Students will explore how the foundations of the technique can be employed for different stylistic intents and how the boundaries of ballet can be pushed in exciting new artistic directions.
Contemporary Dance
This expressive style of dance uses technical elements from Modern, Jazz, Lyrical, Hip Hop, Ballet, and African dance to develop dynamic and meaningful movement. Contemporary dancers are some of the most well rounded and artistically poignant. In this class learners will build their knowledge of basic movement principals and anatomical structures to develop a wide range of practical and creative skills.
Fundamentals of Contact Improvisation and Contemporary Partnering
The technique of Contact Improvisation is the framework that has shaped Modern and Contemporary dance partnering into what we see today. Students will explore the basic improvisational structures of CI through fun and challenging exercises, then learn how they relate to contemporary partnering techniques.
Laban-Bartinieff Modern
A dynamic modern class focused on Laban-Bartinieff Technique. Students will learn the basic tenets of Laban Movement Analysis and explore how those concepts create efficiency and functionality of movement in the practice of Modern Dance.
Somatic Mindfulness Practices
Take a moment to rest and learn about mindful movement practices. Teianna is a level 1 certified EastWest practitioner and is avidly curious about Somatic approaches and how they can contribute to developing technique and performance ability. Somatics is the practice of connecting mind and body through the awareness of movement. This class will teach students the basic principles of any somatic practice and how those principals can be used as tools to continually enhance a dancers practice, melt away stress and tension, and lead to self-awareness.
Contact BDC
BonwaMbontsi
bonwabise@gmail.com
071 201 8010
Teianna Chenkovich
t.chenkovich@gmail.com
+1 206 854 1273
Timetable session times
Monday 18:30 pm
Friday 17:00 – 18:00 pm
Saturday’s 10:00 am
Costs:
- R920 for 10 sessions over 10 weeks
- R1840 for 20 sessions over 10 weeks
- R2760 for 30 sessions over 10 weeks