Artists

Directors

Leigh Nudelman Sussman - Choreographer/Director

Leigh is a performance artist greatly interested in merging arts disciplines. She is currently involved in inner-city cultural and community based projects in Johannesburg. In 2010, she launched Urban Arts Platform, working towards urban renewal of inner-city Johannesburg through the arts at Ansteys Building, a national heritage site in Johannesburg CBD. Urban Arts Platform won the Johannesburg Development Agency "Caring Joburg" Halala Award in 2012. Leigh also is a performance artist and dance teacher. In 2012 she was chosen to participate in the Young Choreographers Residency as part of Dance Umbrella, where ideas for Reverie Heights began. All her projects have been greatly inspired by a masters degree in performance making which she completed in 2008 at Goldsmiths College, University of London, thanks to scholarships from the Skye Foundation and University of the Witwatersrand. 

Yogin Sullphen - Musical Director

Yogin is a young composer/performer currently residing in Johannesburg.  He has worked consistently with choreographers and dancers from his time spent at Wits University as well as professionally, collaborating in Crossings, and working with Kieron Jina for the Breaking New Ground Festival in 2011.  He has experimented with many different forms of music and sound throughout his BMus and after.  Yogin also enjoys involving himself in work that highlights and comments on the social issues that we experience in our current society.  He also works with children in the inner city area through the Music Enlightenment Project.  He is currently working towards a Masters in music through UNISA.

Yogin believes in equality of styles and genres, sounds and harmonies, which has broadened the scope of his musical horizon.  This allows him to draw inspiration from the many musical styles found around our planet.  For this project, Yogin will compose, perform, and facilitate, in collaboration with Leigh Nudelman, to create a world that will allow the audience into a ‘dreamlike’ state.

Visual Artists

Mandy Coppes-Martin

Mandy is a practicing visual artist, working primarily in paper and pulp using fibres such as hemp, sisal and cotton rag. Her qualifications include a Masters Degree “Cum Laude” in Fine Art from the University of Johannesburg (previously, Technikon Witwatersrand), where she researched local and invasive plant fibres for the production of specialist papers. Mandy has had a long career in paper and fibre and has visited countries such as Japan as part of a master’s research project investigating eastern papermaking techniques. Mandy has researched fibres found in Southern Africa for the hand paper making industry and introduced Milkweed (a noxious weed) to a group of hand papermakers in Midrand as well as facilitated paper making workshops on a national level. Her Masters Degree included a student exchange programme to Holland, Germany and Belgium where Mandy worked with various paper experts in three dimensional paper casting techniques and sheet production for the printmaking industry. Mandy has been on several group shows in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Cape Town as well as in Belgium, Philippines and Kenya. Mandy was awarded the runner up in the Sasol New Signatures 2012 Art competition for her works titled “Trembling Giant” and “Virgin Pulp” and is due to hold her Solo Exhibition at Art Space on the 2^nd November 2013. Her new body of work incorporates paper Shifu and crocheting as well as life size drawings in raw silk and paper pulp. Mandy is currently based at Newarc Studio (an artist run studio) situated at Assemblage in Newtown, Johannesburg.

Phumulani Ntuli 

I was born in 1986, in Soweto and currently practicing in Johannesburg. I graduated with a BTech in Visual Arts from the University of Johannesburg and I also have a national diploma in Visual Arts with the same university. My work primarily focuses on the representation of masculine identities in postcolonial South African situation. I have participated in numerous group exhibitions including: Thupelo exhibition 2012; Aardkloop Clover in 2011; Absa L Atelier top 100 exhibitions 2011, 2012 and 2013; Johannesburg Fringe exhibition 2011; Fried Contemporary gallery and ABSA KKNK.  In 2011 I received an award for the CIT:Y festival competition for Visual Arts category. In my work I use and interchange between a variety of mediums and these include Video, sculpture, drawing, performance, installation, digital printing.

Nicola Taylor 
Nicola was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1984. She began studying painting in Florence, Italy at the Scuola Lorenzo de Medici in 2003. . Taylor then went on to study a B. Com in Politics, Philosophy and Economics at the University of Cape Town. In 2007 she moved to London to study painting at The Art Academy. Taylor graduated in July 2009, she was awarded the only first in her year. While in London she exhibited at Art in Action, at The Art Academy Graduate Show 2009 and in a group show at the Royal Institute. In July of 2009 Taylor was invited to be the resident artist in Tower Bridge. She was positioned in a studio at the top of the bridge, where she painted the views of London for six weeks. The residency was followed by a show in Tower Bridge. Taylor returned to South Africa at the end of 2009 to create work for her first solo show, "A World Without Collisions" at the Everard Read Gallery in Johannesburg in 2010. In 2011 Taylor participated in various group shows. She is currently creating artwork for her September solo show, “Core” from her studio in Braamfontein, Johannesburg. 

Performers

Mbuso Kgarebe 

Mbuso was born in 1986 in Soweto. Pantsula dancer at first, he started dancing within crews of Township Dances, and Afro Fusion at the age of 12. He was introduced to the performing arts world when, in 2000, he worked in collaboration with French directors Eric Desaria and Neusa Thomas on the production called Mama Africa Theater Company, which led to perform in Grahamstown National Arts Festival; in Australia on the Common Wealth Games Arts Festival and followed by a South African tour. In 2004, he trained and worked in France with Olympic Starz, a Hip Hop dance company from Toulouse. A year later, the production, Images In Nations brought him to Maputo International Dance Platform and onto a tour in ten African countries. He worked with Jean-Christophe Lanquentin in a piece called aMikilist in Kliptown and in 2006 he directed a piece for an African Night with Picasso. In September 2010, he worked with Nimrod Freed, Israeli artistic director of Tami Dance Company for an installation performance called PeepDance as part of the AZA 2010. In 2009, Mbuso worked with and were directed by Marie-Dominique Dhelsing in a film-performance called Battle Of Love, on an outdoor boxing ring in Johannesburg CBD. In July 2010 showed “KIND OF BLUE” as work in progress in the Dance Space (MID) then later on the work was commissioned for the annual Dance Umbrella Festival in Johannesburg. In 2011 he then worked on the award winning dance film called African Cypher produced by Fly OnThe Wall film production. he Was then elected to be a Red Bull pioneer leader (ambassador). And this lead to his crew Afro Tribal to be picked by RedBull as one of the Top dance crews in SA to compete in the Red Bull Beat Battle Competition 2011. 2011-2012 Mbuso worked for Soweto TV and produced a dance show and a special instructional video for LG called The Feel Good Dance. 2012 Mbuso was invited again in Europe (Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels) to teach his own dance technique of “township dance” in a form of workshops. This took place at Impulsion Dance School, Dansetrumjette. 2013 Mbuso choreographed 13 MTN TV Commercials for 13 African countries. This opened doors for him in the TV commercial world. This lead Mbuso to be the new face of DSTV (NO ONE TELLS A STORY LIKE AFRICANS DO campaign) Mbuso has also been featured in a number of TV commercials as dancer.

Thapelo Kotlolo 
Thapelo is a performing artist, trained in performing arts and facilitation at Sibikwa Arts Centre. In 2010, he joined and performed with the Sibikwa Arts Dance Company at different dance festivals in South Africa including the Grahamstown National Arts Festival, till 2011. He joined and also performed with The Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative for an internship program in 2012. He was part of the Ikusasa Cast that toured Europe in 2013 and rejoined Sibikwa as a dancer and facilitator. He has worked with internationally well known choreographers such a PJ Sabbagha, Thabo Rapoo, Gregory Maqoma and Somizi Mhlongo.

The Ansteys Kids

Ansteys Kids Project is an arts training programme that was started by Ansteys resident, Ntombi Lushaba and which Urban Arts Platform now runs at the Ansteys Building. Ntombi tells an anecdote about her motivation for beginning the project. She mentions that, after living at the Anstey’s Building in Jeppe Street in the Johannesburg CBD, she grew weary of the complaints about the children in the building. Adults would complain about the kids’ constant running up and down the corridors of the building, making noise and causing damage to the building. Her heart wept for the children who are unable to play elsewhere, as the streets outside their homes are not accommodative of children’s need and desire for play. She began Anstey’s Kids Project, teaching the children different forms of artistic play: dance, music and singing. Urban Arts Platform now assists the Ansteys Kids project, by providing free space in which to work, training in multiple arts disciplines, performance and exhibition opportunities as well as administrative assistance. Both UAP and the Ansteys Kids Project believe in investing in children who typically might not be exposed to the arts in their daily lives, thereby ensuring we grow the arts at the grassroots. Arts activities also ensure these children are kept off the streets and out of certain dangers typically found in Johannesburg inner-city, such as gang violence and recreational drug use.