Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company - Elitedance Broadcast Network

Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company

Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company (FFFDC) was formed in June 1998 (subsequent to the closure of the Playhouse Dance Company) by Mark Hawkins (Artistic Director), Peter Taylor (Administrator) and David Gouldie

(Resident Choreographer) and celebrates its 5th Anniversary this year.

FFFDC is the premier neo-classical contemporary dance company in KwaZulu-Natal. Its principal purpose is to create work of an international standard that is identifiable with, and indigenous to, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa. It aims to present, preserve and promote work that is exciting, challenging and that which explores new boundaries.

FFFDC’s repertoire boasts a large contingent of work by top South African choreographers whilst also including works by international choreographers Jean-Paul Comelin, Paul Douglas and Jack Carter. The company tours both nationally and internationally and is constantly pursuing collaborations with other companies, both here and abroad. The company and its dancers have both been nominated and awarded many awards in South Africa. At present the company consists of 8 dancers who are augmented by ad-hoc dancers if the work the company is performing demands a larger cast.

Artistic Director - Mark Hawkins

FFFDC’s activities are not limited to performance only. The dance company runs a number of educational and outreach programmes which target school learner and dance learner audiences, children and adults from the informal settlement which neighbours the dance company’s studio, and an evening adult dance programme offering dance in a variety of forms. These programmes have a two-fold purpose: to pass on skills to all participants and thereby enhance the cultural life of all involved, and to build new audiences which in turn will provide a support base for the dance company in particular, and for all the arts in general. In addition to its educational and outreach programmes the dance company is in the process of establishing and developing a new dance language which is a combination of classical dance, contemporary dance and physical theatre. This new language is unique in that it emanates from Africa and, more specifically, South Africa. This is a dance language which is rooted in South Africa and is the combination of all the elements that make us a country unique in the world.

The work which FFFDC has produced to date has been accorded very positive responses from the press and from audiences. The reputation the dance company has built in the short period of its existence is one where the dance company is known for the high quality of its productions. This has resulted in the dance company receiving invitations to perform at all the major dance and arts festivals in South Africa and to perform abroad. The dance company’s work has been recognised nationally and internationally for its innovation and for the work it has done in pushing and exploring new boundaries in dance.

Since its inception, FFFDC has operated on an extremely limited and insecure funding basis yet it has managed, through the ceaseless efforts of its management and, in particular, its Artistic Director, in gaining funding and sponsorships to produce and present high quality work on an almost regular basis. The dance company continues to build relations with the corporate and private sector in an effort to alleviate costs of productions and has been largely successful in this regard. In 2002 FFFDC received a three-year grant towards running costs from the National Arts Council.

‘FFFDC heralds a new phase in Durban’s dance history and is a breath of fresh air to our performing arts’

Lliane Loots: The Mercury

‘... expertise and versatility in both contemporary and classical dance forms’

Denise Britz: The Mercury

‘Hawkins deserves credit for making like a modern day Diaghilev’

Lynne Goodman: The Natal Witness

‘The dance is as eclectic as the music, featuring every style from classical to robust contemporary...a sense of vitality and freshness. Execution is nimble and confident, with no weak links in the ensemble of performers whose enjoyment is manifest and contagious’

Beverley Brommert: Cape Argus

Nibs van der Spuy of Landscape Prayers

Dancers from Fantastic Flying Fish Dance Company

Photography by Val Adamson (2003)

Choreography by David Gouldie

Costume Design by Ebrahim Medell

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