The Body as Archive | Hatched Ensemble, The Herd/Less and a Life in Resistance with Mamela Nyamza
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What does it cost to become yourself when the art form you love was never built for your body? And what does it mean to take that cost — the ridicule, the exclusion, the rigid aesthetic violence of classical ballet — and transform it into work that tours sixteen countries and wins one of the most prestigious honours in international contemporary dance?
In this episode of the Lift Club on MFM 92.6, Sibu and Nalo sit down with Mamela Nyamza — dancer, choreographer, director, activist, and 2026 Biennale Danza Silver Lion laureate — ahead of two landmark productions at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town this April and May. Born and raised in Gugulethu, nominated among the top five artists worldwide for the Salavisa European Dance Award, and the founder of Mamela's Artistic Movement NPC, Nyamza is one of the most fearless and necessary artists this country has produced. This conversation traces the full arc: from an eight-year-old girl at Zama Dance School who was ridiculed for her physique, to a choreographer whose work is about to make its European premiere at the Venice Dance Biennale.
What we cover in this episode:
- The Silver Lion: What the 2026 Biennale Danza Silver Lion meant to Nyamza when it was announced — and who she thought of first in that moment of recognition.
- From Gugulethu to New York: How training at Zama Dance School, graduating with a National Diploma in Ballet from TUT in 1994, and winning a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater School in 1999 reshaped not only her technique but her understanding of what dance can be and who it can speak for.
- Hatched — The Original Solo: How the autobiographical 2007 work that crystallised Nyamza's artistic signature came to exist — what she was trying to say that she felt nobody else was saying, and why it was necessary to say it alone first.
- Hatched Ensemble at the Baxter, 29 and 30 April: How the original solo expanded into a work for ten ballet-trained dancers from different ethnic backgrounds — the ballet shoes as colonialism, the white tutus as exclusion — and what it means to finally bring a production that has toured the UK, Italy, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Mozambique, and the USA home to Cape Town.
- Holding History Without Breaking: The choreographic and emotional challenge of containing that much pain, that much history, and that much political weight inside a single work of art — and why it must be felt, not merely understood.
- The Herd/Less — World Premiere at the Baxter, 1 and 2 May: The new production that plays on the dual meaning of "herd" — collective harmony on one hand, enforced conformity on the other — and what pushed Nyamza to interrogate the fallacy of a beautiful world while exposing the violent realities of ongoing vulnerability.
- What Audiences Are Meant to Feel: Nyamza is unambiguous about the provocation at the heart of The Herd/Less. This is not a work designed to comfort. This is a work designed to implicate.
- Mamela's Artistic Movement NPC: Why it was necessary to build a creative home for artists marginalised by body politics from scratch — what that non-profit looks like in practice, and what it makes possible for bodies that mainstream institutions continue to exclude.
- Venice Dance Biennale, July 2026: What it means for work rooted in South African bodies, South African pain, and South African history to stand on one of the world's most watched international stages.
Key Resources & Highlights:
Hatched Ensemble: Baxter Theatre, 29 and 30 April 2026.
The Herd/Less — World Premiere: Baxter Theatre, 1 and 2 May 2026.
The Herd/Less — European Premiere: Venice Dance Biennale, July 2026.
Mamela's Artistic Movement NPC: Nyamza's non-profit creating space for artists whose bodies have been deemed wrong by the institutions that were supposed to welcome them.
In this episode of the Lift Club on MFM 92.6, Sibu and Nalo sit down with Mamela Nyamza — dancer, choreographer, director, activist, and 2026 Biennale Danza Silver Lion laureate — ahead of two landmark productions at the Baxter Theatre in Cape Town this April and May. Born and raised in Gugulethu, nominated among the top five artists worldwide for the Salavisa European Dance Award, and the founder of Mamela's Artistic Movement NPC, Nyamza is one of the most fearless and necessary artists this country has produced. This conversation traces the full arc: from an eight-year-old girl at Zama Dance School who was ridiculed for her physique, to a choreographer whose work is about to make its European premiere at the Venice Dance Biennale.
What we cover in this episode:
- The Silver Lion: What the 2026 Biennale Danza Silver Lion meant to Nyamza when it was announced — and who she thought of first in that moment of recognition.
- From Gugulethu to New York: How training at Zama Dance School, graduating with a National Diploma in Ballet from TUT in 1994, and winning a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater School in 1999 reshaped not only her technique but her understanding of what dance can be and who it can speak for.
- Hatched — The Original Solo: How the autobiographical 2007 work that crystallised Nyamza's artistic signature came to exist — what she was trying to say that she felt nobody else was saying, and why it was necessary to say it alone first.
- Hatched Ensemble at the Baxter, 29 and 30 April: How the original solo expanded into a work for ten ballet-trained dancers from different ethnic backgrounds — the ballet shoes as colonialism, the white tutus as exclusion — and what it means to finally bring a production that has toured the UK, Italy, Russia, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Norway, Mozambique, and the USA home to Cape Town.
- Holding History Without Breaking: The choreographic and emotional challenge of containing that much pain, that much history, and that much political weight inside a single work of art — and why it must be felt, not merely understood.
- The Herd/Less — World Premiere at the Baxter, 1 and 2 May: The new production that plays on the dual meaning of "herd" — collective harmony on one hand, enforced conformity on the other — and what pushed Nyamza to interrogate the fallacy of a beautiful world while exposing the violent realities of ongoing vulnerability.
- What Audiences Are Meant to Feel: Nyamza is unambiguous about the provocation at the heart of The Herd/Less. This is not a work designed to comfort. This is a work designed to implicate.
- Mamela's Artistic Movement NPC: Why it was necessary to build a creative home for artists marginalised by body politics from scratch — what that non-profit looks like in practice, and what it makes possible for bodies that mainstream institutions continue to exclude.
- Venice Dance Biennale, July 2026: What it means for work rooted in South African bodies, South African pain, and South African history to stand on one of the world's most watched international stages.
Key Resources & Highlights:
Hatched Ensemble: Baxter Theatre, 29 and 30 April 2026.
The Herd/Less — World Premiere: Baxter Theatre, 1 and 2 May 2026.
The Herd/Less — European Premiere: Venice Dance Biennale, July 2026.
Mamela's Artistic Movement NPC: Nyamza's non-profit creating space for artists whose bodies have been deemed wrong by the institutions that were supposed to welcome them.
