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The Gold of Africa Barbier-Meuller museum is offering a special team building workshop day for 4 to 8 participants consisting of an exciting cuttlefish casting workshop, lunch at the Gold Restaurant and a museum tour.
You will manufacture your own pendant cast in bronze. Learn how to design, carve, smelt metal and finish your very own one-of-a-kind jewellery piece! Lunch is a set menu from the spectacular Gold Restaurant and the museum tour will take you through the history of gold and wow you with the amazing 300 piece collection of ancient gold artifacts from West Africa!
For rates and information contact Heidi Liebenberg on idieh@mweb.co.za.
The Cape Town City Ballet (CTCB), in conjunction with UCT School of Dance and the Cape Junior Ballet (CJB), presents its annual OPEN DAY, from 10am – 3pm on Saturday 28 May 2011 at the studios of the UCT School of Dance, Rosebank.
The action packed day promises excellent entertainment for the whole family as well as providing a rare behind the scenes look into the daily life of a dancer.
A special feature of this year’s event will be the appearance of the ‘Black Swan’ during the two special Fundraiser Performances.
Visitors can begin their visit by observing Company Class taught by ballerina Tracy Li and then watch a rehearsal conducted by Prof. Elizabeth Triegaardt of CTCB’s production of SWAN LAKE which the CTCB will be presenting at the National Arts Festival in Grahamstown next month as well as during its forthcoming season at Artscape Opera in August.
Young visitors are catered for and can participate in several events which include face painting and stage make-up by CTCB dancers and experience a tactile moment with costumes from CTCB’s Wardrobe. The ‘Ballet Shop’ will hold a special sale of Dance Togs during the day and a percentage of sales will be donated to the CTCB’s Outreach & Development programmes.
Mervyn Williams will conduct an open ‘Introduction to Ballet’ class for all aged 9 – 90, so come along, dressed as you are, and join in the fun of a basic beginner’s ballet class
The CTCB’s Male Development programme will see former principal dancer Johan Jooste conduct a class for young male dancers while the Cape Junior Ballet can be seen in a ‘Variations Class’ conducted by former ballerina Nicolette Loxton.
Other activities include CTCB’s Outreach group, JIKELEZA, with Edmund Thwaites. UCT School of Dance offers a look into the life of a student dancer, with a Contemporary Dance class conducted by Kristina Johnstone and Spanish dance class with Mavis Becker, while Lindy Raizenberg conducts an Irish dance class.
The highlight of the day is the special fundraising Performance presented by Keith Mackintosh, with CTCB & CJB dancers in a variety of spectacular short ballets and pas de deux.
All are welcome to OPEN DAY, so come along and meet your favourite dancers and have your photo taken with them. Refreshments are available for purchase throughout the day.
Admission to OPEN DAY is R20 for adults and R10 for children under 13, which enables participants to attend all the activities except the two fundraising Performances at 12h30 and 13h30. Tickets for these shows are available on the day, at R50, from the CJB table.
For enquiries or timetable contact Megan du Plessis
Maintaining the sumptuous bohemian atmosphere and magical vibe for which Vaudeville became famous, The Brasserie, with its fabulously chic 1920’s interior, is set to be the next ‘it’ spot in the Mother City.
This particular ‘eatertainment’ concept is new to Cape Town and is described as ‘Parisian chic meets Downtown New York City cool’.
While diners feast from the classic French brasserie menu , superb artists will offer guests continuous non fixed entertainment from the time they enter through the plush velvet curtains, throughout dinner and beyond. Themes such as ‘Venice’, ‘Animal Print’ and ‘Gypsy Circus’, that will change every 3 weeks, will make every visit to The Brasserie an unforgettable experience in a unique environment.
The dynamic performer line up includes the French aerial artist Emilie LeLouch; Capetonian opera sensation Robin Botha; the British flyline artist Natalie Stafford; Caitlin, the mesmerising electric violinist from Zambia and Devin Howell, a contact juggler, also from the Mother City. Performing a range of exciting acts including fire, trapeze, acrobatics and dancing, both onstage and amongst the tables, this quirky entertainment offering, with musical backing by Jinx’s Antonio, the resident DJ at The Brasserie will be a blend of Paris’s Buddha Bar and New York’s The Box.
The Brasserie at Vaudeville opens to the public on Thursday 19th May 2011. With the entertainment being offered throughout the night, patrons may arrive at their leisure from 6pm to enjoy pre dinner cocktails at The Fez bar. The restaurant is a la carte with an extensive wine list and is open from 7pm to 10pm, Thursdays to Saturdays.
Patrons should please note that there is an entertainment surcharge of R75 and this includes complimentary VIP Access to The Fez Club that opens at 10:30pm nightly. For bookings and further information please call 021 4197000 or visit www.brasserie.co.za.
Image by Jesse Kramer
The Bird Watchers is Athol Fugard’s latest world première to be staged on the Fugard Theatre stage from 10 May to 4 June. He dedicates his latest work to two defining friendships from his early years in theatre in South Africa, namely those with Barney Simon and Yvonne Bryceland.
“It celebrates the memorable hours we spent watching birds and talking in the shade of the umGwenya tree at my home in the Eastern Cape. Although the characters in the play are a Playwright, a Director and an Actress, the work itself is entirely fictional,” said Fugard, who is receiving a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre in June.
The three friends in the play are the passionate Garth, played by Sean Taylor (a “rough-around the edges” playwright), Guy De Lancey as the gentle-mannered Lenny, (a director) and Dorothy Ann Gould as flamboyant Rosalyn (an actress).
The Bird Watchers will be managed by the same creative team that delivered The Train Driver in 2010, which also saw the evergreen 79-year old Fugard direct a world-première of his own work in the theatre that carries his name. Lighting design is again by Mannie Manim, who has lit every one of Fugard’s plays, and costume and set design by Saul Radomsky.
After both the preview performances, on 10 and 11 May, Fugard will be on stage to answer questions from the audience about his latest play.
Bookings, with reserved seating, for The Bird Watchers can be made on www.computicket.com, or by phoning the Fugard Theatre Box Office on 021 461 4554.
Due to public demand, David Kramer’s Breyani returns to the Baxter Theatre for 10 performances only from 18 to 29 May.
In Breyani, Kramer celebrates rhythms, instrumentation, vocal styling and language to create music that is unmistakably and uniquely from the Cape. Audience enthusiasm and rave reviews generated sold-out houses during the Baxter run in December last year.
David Kramer is a musician and songwriter with a passion for exploring the roots of Cape Afrikaans folk music. In this show, a 10-piece band includes the well-known jazz keyboard player Camillo Lombard, who plays piano accordion in this show. The incredibly versatile Gammie Lakay, who has played on numerous Kramer recordings, is on acoustic lead guitar, as well as showing off his skills as a moppie vocalist. Don-veno Prins, who wowed audiences in The Kramer Petersen Songbook and 3 Wiser Men, plays saxophone. Banjo virtuoso Nielen Prinsloo joined Breyani for the first time in December and former member of DNA Strings, Jacques Steyn plays mandolin and bass. Veterans of klopse bands Howard Links and Charlie Rhode on banjo, mandolin, and guitar, take the moppie, the vastrap, the ghoemaliedjie and the tiekiedraai to new heights. From the stages of musical theatre and Malay Choir competitions, Loukmaan Adams sings and beats the ghoema drum and completing the stellar line-up are the much loved Sonskyn Sisters, Ruth Hector and Elspeth Davids who have an opportunity to show off their fine vocal talents.
Kramer keeps the pot simmering throughout, taking the audience on a journey that explores the individual flavours of music unique to this part of the world.
Breyani was originally commissioned by the Suidoosterfees in 2009, and then performed at the KKNK in 2010, where David received a Kanna award for his Exceptional Contribution to a Contemporary Music Production.
For this limited season of Breyani at the Baxter Theatre, there will be two matinee performances on a Sunday afternoon, which will satisfy patrons who live beyond the city limits. Performances run nightly from Wednesdays to Sundays with 10% discounts available for Senior Citizens, Students and Block Bookings of 10 or more. Tickets cost from R90 to R135 via Computicket.
On the eve of GIPCA’s ‘the names we give’ symposium, the Great Texts / Big Questions lecture on 12 May at 17:30 will see director of Iziko South African National Gallery Riason Naidoo in a verbal duel with art critic and former editor of Art South Africa Sean O’Toole.
‘Shoot! Image and Text: A discussion on curating, art criticism and maybe football too…’ will be a two-way question and answer session between Naidoo and O’Toole focusing on the role of the public museum, curatorship as a form of hegemonic disruption and the inflections of post-apartheid art criticism, with public participation in the exchange welcomed.
Naidoo is an artist, curator, art educator, former coordinator for the French Institute of South Africa and of the Timbuktu Manuscripts project, and currently director of ISANG at Iziko Museums. O’Toole is a journalist, art critic, short story writer and formerly editor of Art South Africa and www.artthrob.co.za. Naidoo is from Durban, O’Toole from Pretoria, both have served time in Johannesburg, and both are now based in Cape Town. Naidoo is a committed Manning Rangers supporter, O’Toole a long-time fan of Liverpool FC.
They both agree that contemporary photography is a vital medium in current South African art practice.
Director of GIPCA Jay Pather commented: “Forums for interactive conversation between curator and critic are few and far between. The mystique of the attendant parties has it’s own allure but may be frustrating for innocent bystanders wondering what the fuss is all about. This lecture promises to be one of a series of engrossing GIPCA events where shifts in the debate, however small, may be made with public participation and input.”
This event will take place at Hiddingh Hall, University of Cape Town (UCT) Hiddingh Campus, Orange Street, Cape Town on Thursday 12 May at 17:30 and is free. Refreshments will be served from 17:00. No Booking is necessary. For more information on the series, please contact 021 480 7156 or fin-gipca@uct.ac.za.
South Africa’s award winning A Capella group “Not the Midnight Mass” are back! Performing since 1988, the group has a new and exciting line up; stalwarts Graham and Christine Weir are once again joined by Cape Town’s most popular jazz diva, Amanda Tiffin, bass Donal Slemon and multiple award winning actress Anthea Thompson.
Singing Like angels but with a devilish wit, they have been hailed both nationally and internationally for their unique blend of harmonies, humor and original writing.
The new show, “Hot Cross Nuns” will run concurrently with the launch of their new CD also entitled “Hot Cross Nuns”, and sports some old favorites like “Cotton Fields” and Pachelbel’s “Canon in D as well as a new and hilarious rendition of My Fair Lady’s “On The Street Where you Live” .
In 2009 the members of Not the Midnight Mass won the Fleur de Cap Award for Best performance in a Cabaret when they performed their 21st birthday show at Pieter Toerien’s Theatre on the Bay.
“Listen to me Darlings, this show is unique, not just in South Africa, unique in the world Darlings” – Pieter Dirk Uys.
The show will run from 7th May to the 4th June at the Baxter Studio. Directed by Bo Petersen and choreographed by Fiona du Plooy, costumes by Craig Leo. Booking at Computicket.
Saatchi & Saatchi Cape Town and its PR affiliate Tin Can, created an innovative activation campaign for the Sasko Flour brand, which was showcased at the V&A Waterfront on the day of the royal wedding, attracting onlookers to get a taste of the royal wedding and ‘share in the goodness’ of the most talked about event of 2011.
South Africans were invited to have their cake and eat it on the day of the Royal Wedding with a showcase of Cake Couture dresses designed by some of SA’s most promising fashion designers, which were baked with Sasko Flour by the country’s best known chefs and worn by models.
The event combined every bride-to-be’s two biggest wedding obsessions: the cake and the dress and the three couture dresses were put on display for people to view and then eat.
The Cake Couture campaign, involved life-size, edible designer dresses. Three up-and-coming SA designers were enlisted and paired with top pastry chefs to design jaw-dropping (not to mention lip-smacking) creations, exhibited by three top models.
The public were invited to enjoy a slice from their favourite dress as well as sign a special commemorative card, which will be sent to the Royal couple, with love from South Africa.
South Africans can have their cake and eat it on the day of the Royal Wedding with a showcase of Cake Couture dresses at the V&A Waterfront, where people will be able to witness a world-first in the form of life size wedding cake dresses designed by SA’s most promising fashion designers, baked by the country’s best known chefs and worn by models.
The event, brought to life by Sasko Flour, is a one hour event combining every bride-to-be’s two biggest wedding obsessions: the cake and the dress. Three delicious couture dresses made out of cake will be on display and worn at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on Friday the 29th April 2011 at the Kamaldien forecourt on the Upper Level where the Royal Wedding will be screened live.
The dresses have been designed by three of South Africa’s most promising fashion designers and have been bought to life by three of SA’s top confectionary chefs and will be modeled by actual women.
“We are looking forward to everyone in Cape Town being given the opportunity to share in the wedding goodness,” says Danie Bower, National Marketing Manager at Sasko Grain. “The collaboration between designers, chefs and the sponsors involved has been amazing and we cannot thank them enough for making this idea come to life. We are also giving the chance for everyone sign a ‘giant’ wedding card, which will be sent to Prince William and Kate Middleton in the UK.”
Alongside the actual event taking place, people viewing the dresses have an opportunity to win some great prizes through the Cake Couture Facebook (Cake Couture) and Twitter Page (@SAcakeCOUTURE).
Date: 29th April, 2011
Time: 11h00 – 12h00
Venue: V&A Waterfront, Kamaldien forecourt, Upper Level (Outside Woolworths)
For more information visit: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cake-Couture/211271872231679 or Twitter: @SAcakeCOUTURE
