This 14th iteration is a special one as the call went out to artists with disabilities to showcase, in artistic form, how they hack life with their experience of living in a world that is not designed for disability.
All four pieces will be works in progress, the artists engaged in emergent research while the audience moves around and between the pieces in an interactive way.
Any queries please DM Louise Westerhout via Instagram.
Nadine Mckenzie is the Artistic Director of the UNMUTE Dance Company based in Cape Town. Her artistic roles include being an integrated dance teacher, dancer, producer and choreographer. She has previously received training Inclusive teaching by Alito Alessi in Vienna in 2010. In 2006 she joined Remix Dance Company. She has then produced exceptional work as a performer/ teacher in a wheelchair and has established herself as a well-recognized figure within the performing arts community both nationally and internationally. In 2013, Mckenzie was nominated for the Imbokodo Awards in the Dance category and has received a Tribute Award in the Arts and Culture Category. In the same year 2013, she was selected as one of the Mail and Guardian 200 Young South Africans, and in 2018 she was awarded an Imagine Award in the disability category for promoting work that creates awareness of disability and inclusion. Mckenzie is one of the co-founders of the Unmute Dance Company.
Siphenathi Mayekiso is a trained physical theatre performer/actor and an integrated dancer/choreographer. He regards himself as a storyteller and poetic mover. He draws his creative inspiration from different aspects of life, abstract images, philosophy, ideologies and history at large. He is fascinated by objects in space in relation to the body and the inclusivity of what is not part of the body to move as one while telling a story. As an artist he is at a place where he uses his body as a catalyst in negotiating dialogues around inclusivity and body politics which circles the notion of being differently-abled.
SLAGter deals with the topics of sexual assault, PTSD, consent and healing. The artist is tied up by a bdsm artist and the audience is given the choice to assist in the bounding. When sexually assaulted, the feeling of "being held down" is what triggers the artist.
Performed by Marlon Pokpas (he/him) and Brad Howziter (he/him)
Marlon Pokpas' performance work is inspired by his dreams and hallucinations. As an artist he is driven by a desire to explore and depict homoeroticism, sensuality, religion and political statements in his practice
The Unexperienced Yet: Re-Imagined Difficulties builds on the themes of the original work, acting as a dialogue between my past, present, and future. It examines the challenges I have faced and prepares me to confront future obstacles.
This deeply personal and therapeutic work draws from my experience with stuttering, a genetic condition that affects my patience and temper. By using performance as a creative outlet, I explore strategies to manage these challenges, offering an alternative to speech therapy and fostering growth through self-expression.
Tsholo4elo Ndaba is a multidisciplinary dance artist, choreographer, and Pantsula dance specialist whose work intersects with various art forms. With a passion for innovation, he explores the dynamics of movement, storytelling, and abstract expression. Tsholo4elo’s work often reflects deeply personal themes. One of his movement-based research projects focuses on exploring the maximum creative potential of human expression and how creative blocks can serve as tools for innovation.
He is currently working on a project titled The Fourth Project, which breaks the boundaries between Pantsula dance and abstract painting. This project leads to artwork created through Pantsula dance footwork and other painting techniques, moving away from traditional methods of using a brush. It seeks to find new possibilities for creating art through footwork.
Tsholo4elo is a conceptualist and dance teacher who has developed his own Pantsula Dance methodology, exploring how Pantsula footwork can integrate with upper body movement. This approach focuses on the process, the "how," and the outcomes of this integration. Its core dimensions are physical, technical, and spiritual. By combining these dimensions, the methodology inspires dancers to transcend movement by connecting their physicality to their inner creativity and emotional depth.
Tsholo4elo is also involved in the corporate world, dance films, multidisciplinary collaboration in theater making, creative consultation, and exploring other possibilities.
Through the tactile intimacy of hair, this interactive performance reveals the lived experience of a neurodivergent hairdresser navigating the sensory-rich currents of salon life. A day at the salon unfolds on stage to explore how the space operates as both workspace and sanctuary, and the audience is called to reflect upon their own relationship with their hair and the rituals surrounding their hair. The piece also discusses the weight of holding others’ traumas and joys. This is a meditation on carving spaces of belonging, the sacred power of transformation, and the quiet, unspoken alchemy between stylist and client. As scissors and dialogue flows, the piece reflects how the power of this craft reverberates far beyond the salon.
Amy Long (they/them) is first and foremost an artist, weaving creativity into every aspect of their life. A hairdresser and reiki practitioner based at Scar Hair on Bree Street, they approach their craft with intention and care. A late-diagnosed neurodivergent, their work explores themes of identity, connection, and transformation. In addition to their salon practice, they create crochet and hair art, identifying as a Fiber Artist. Their previous performance, unclear with Louise Westerhout (2023), explored vulnerability and expression. When not working, they love to read, daydream, and immerse themself in imaginative worlds. This piece marks their continued exploration of art’s power to shape human connection.
Founded in 2018 by Louise Westerhout , BODY POLITIC is an informal Live Art event.
We invite independent artists to bring their investigations, AS THEY ARE, to be authentically witnessed, to open discourse, to refuse crystallisation. Body Politic is an informal, inclusive, queer-normative space which illuminates ways performing artists address their bodies’ complicity with, or resistance to, dominant social ideologies and structures. We acknowledge the body as a never-neutral site for conveying meaning; an always necessarily politicised site onto which meaning is inscribed. So far the work of over 65 local and international performance artists has been showcased including Lorin Sookool, Kaulana Williams, Amy Louise Wilson, Qondiswa James, Kanya Viljoen, Lungile Lallie, Genna Gardini, Lukhanyiso Skosana, Kopano Maroga. Naledi Majola, Nadine McKenzie, Themba Mbuli, Kanya Viljoen, Mikki George, Mamello Makhetha, Anathi Rubela, Kylie Fisher.
Louise even held Body Politic 11: transplant live on Instagram in the Stem Cell Transplant Unit in 2023!
Please note Body Politic is always a non institutional, Transformative Justice and consent based safe space for artists and audience. It is designed as an antidote against the coercive often prescriptive way artists must perform and tolerate unsafe spaces. Louise is always “tell-able” should there be any issues or harmdoers present in the space.
Photo by Lauren Britz