MusicDance 2026 - Call for Participation

Application Deadline: 16 September 2026

The project will take place at Theatre Arts

21 November - 5 December 2026

MusicDance Cape Town is an intensive workshop and performance series for independent music, dance and performing artists supported by Theatre Arts since 2018. 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 2026, the project will be co-directed by Manuela Lucia Tessi and musician Coila-Leah Enderstein.

Now in its ninth year, MusicDance draws together performing artists from diverse genres and backgrounds to learn tools and practice interdisciplinary improvisation. Improvisation is used as a compositional method to collectively create performance. Audiences are invited to witness the forging of these new collaborations and unique expressions in music and dance performance.

The team of facilitators is a group of experienced South African and international music and dance artists who have worked together in similar projects. These artists have met through this project and developed long-lasting collaborations across continents. MusicDance, besides being a training and performance programme, aims at laying the foundations for independent artists to meet one another and mutually inspire and support each other.

How does it work?
The project consists of two cycles. Each cycle kicks off with a weekend of workshops facilitated by a team of experienced artists, where participants learn tools and techniques for interdisciplinary improvisation: listening, spatial awareness, timing, score-based improvisation, and collective decision-making. We use improvisation as a composition method: a disciplined practice of making choices in real time, within shared frameworks and agreements.

The following week starts with “rehearsals”, where artists work in groups to implement these skills and develop chemistry with their fellow participants. Three performance nights will follow, where artists will compose a programme of short pieces together in real-time in front of audiences. Performance groups will be determined during the workshops and each artist will perform at least once per week.

What do you learn?
We are rehearsing chemistry and creating space for creativity to unfold.
In the workshops we practice listening and spatial awareness, as a starting point to be able to create material. The material can be then transformed through different use of tools such as rhythm, tempo, movement quality, atmosphere, spatial relationship. We aim at composing from almost nothing, without preconceived ideas but letting the material emerge from the moment and the interaction with one another. We later work with scores, structures that we create to help create a framework for the compositions.

In this project, artists with a performance practice are encouraged to apply. However, no improvisation experience is required. Artists are encouraged to create and collaborate from their own background, their artistic style becomes the foundation to explore material collectively. The compositional strategies offered and shared can apply to any genre and style. Artists are encouraged to develop tools that allow them to make work even when resources are limited. By sharing compositional strategies that are adaptable and sustainable, MusicDance supports artistic agency beyond ideal conditions.

What are we striving for?
A central aim of MusicDance is to foster a non-hierarchical way of working. There is no external choreographer, composer, or director shaping the material from outside. Agency rests with the performers, who make compositional choices collectively and are accountable to the shared moment.

We are moving away from the idea of dancers and musicians as background or support for each other - we want to foster mutual inspiration and collaboration on equal ground.

The goal of this project is to develop and sustain the practice and research of music and dance in performance by creating work that is immediate, risk taking and challenging the boundaries between disciplines and genres.

MusicDance provides a transformative experience for artists to extend their skills and agency while forging new collaborations and lasting artistic connections. The performance platform provides the chance to present new work to the public and offers insight into the immediacy and risk of real-time performance making.

Team 2026
Artistic Direction: Manuela Lucia Tessi and Coila-Leah Enderstein
Music facilitators: Garth Erasmus , Matteo Ringas, and guests to be announced
Production: Kayla van der Merwe and Gemma Paton
Photography: Tania Lea Vossgätter
Lighting design and visuals: Frans Mandilakhe Zunguze, Lutho Booi.

Financial structure
There is a participation fee of R2500.
The fee can be paid in two instalments of R1250 each: first instalment due 24 October, second instalment due 14 November.

Artists can make a part or whole of this tuition back by selling at least 10 tickets to the shows. Each ticket is R125. The number of sellable tickets will be on a sliding scale depending on participants’ financial situation (based on information gathered from the application form).

Artists will be encouraged to promote their own performances and bring audience regardless of whether or not they have tickets to recoup.

Because the project is self-funded, we have chosen this financial model to make participation possible for more artists, make the project sustainable, and encourage artists to proudly share their performance work.

Schedule
Saturday 21 November: 9am-1pm/ 2pm-5pm workshops
Sunday 22 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 23 November: 5pm- 9pm rehearsals and tech
Tuesday 24 November: 5pm- 9pm rehearsals and tech
Wednesday 25 November: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)
Thursday 26 November: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)
Friday 27 November: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)
Saturday 28 November: 9am-1pm/ 2pm-5pm workshops
Sunday 29 November: 9am-1pm/ 2pm-5pm workshops
*all artists together both days

Mon 30 November: OFF

Tuesday 1 December: 5pm-9pm rehearsals and tech
Wednesday 2 December: 5pm-9pm rehearsals and tech
Thursday 3 December: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)
Friday 4 December: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)
Saturday 5 December: 8pm performance (call at 5pm)

You will receive an updated and more detailed schedule once the participation is confirmed.
To apply please fill in the form before 16 September

Link to application form https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdNzkteyTMcrQO_Fv45Bt3MvIcviQvg9eazlW9Bl56BIyCxTQ/viewform

We will communicate the result of the selections a few days after the deadline.
Website: https://musicdance.net/cape-town/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musicdance021/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MusicDanceprojects/
Testimonial video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rq_eqK6HDjA