Celebrating its 10th year – and the 30th anniversary of the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (FATC) – My Body My Space: Public Arts Festival (MBMS) 2025 invites art-loving and day-tripping audiences to experience an extraordinary celebration of public art, featuring a selection of installations, site-specific performances, workshops, and training programmes across Emakhazeni, Mpumalanga.
From 10-15 March 2025, this one-of-a-kind free festival will transform rural Emakhazeni into a public art space accessible to all, curated to foreground local dancers, choreographers and traditional/indigenous dance forms, as well as to emphasise human rights, the power of democracy, and creative excellence, with a strong focus on the climate and environment.
“Over the past 10 years, MBMS has become core to the DNA and annual programming of FATC, celebrating her 30th year this year,” says PJ Sabbagha, festival co-curator, “It is a moment that tests our resolve as a company, but equally brings immense joy and pride for the full FATC team. Like any act of creation, it is filled with surprises and explodes with the unexpected. As we create the festival and the festival creates itself anew each year, as artists create their work, so too do we hope that audiences of all ages and backgrounds will experience it. We invite everyone to enter this shared and co-created journey with open hearts and minds, to witness, engage and reflect, and see and experience your world in new unexpected ways. Locally, MBMS is known as a rain maker – as we prepare for the festival, the rain has arrived – and we are deeply thankful for the blessing of rain and its much needed nourishment of the land. The festival this year, as always, is deeply connected to place, soil, land, and communities. We do not get to shield ourselves from the reality of the environment that holds us. With that in mind, come rain or sun, MBMS will go on, so we urge you to bring your umbrellas, good comfortable walking shoes and your water bottles.”
Programme highlights
The fringe Arteries Programme from 10-14 March includes performances, activations, and workshops for and by children and youth in the towns of Machadodorp / Emthonjeni, Belfast / Siyathuthuka and Dullstroom / Sakhelwe. This programme is a collaboration between FATC’s LEAP (Local Education in Arts Programme) participants and Wits: Drama for Life.
March 13th will see the inaugural A: Practice Mini Conference hosted at Chazon Tekna School. “A-Practice” is a term created by FATC to represent its intersecting practices of Arts, Administration, Agriculture, Activism and the Areas in between. It is a way of seeing and responding to the currently unfolding realities in society and our environments which, as a model, supports cultural institutions in locating themselves in an ecological world, in assuming respons-ability for the survival of all beings and inspiring people to act in the same way in all areas of their activities. “A-Practice” is a way to solve complex problems to make communities more resilient.
The main Central Nervous System (CNS) Programme will host a selection of commissioned works at various sites from 14-15 March, featuring national and international independent artists and dance companies from the UK, Free State, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Eastern and Western Cape.
Its opening programme at FATC’s Ebhudlweni Arts Centre on March 14th will feature performances by Lulu Mlangeni, Obusitswe “Birdking” Seage, Oupa Sibeko, Smangaliso Ngwenya, Songezo Mcilizeli, and Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe.
Starting at Feya’s Palace on the morning of March 15th, audience members will follow a set route through the streets and various sites of Machadodorp, and experience performances and installations from established and community-based artists, including Songezo Mcilizeli and FATC dance interns, Vuyani Dance Theatre, Moving Into Dance, Drama for Life, and Perzani Dance Theatre. In the afternoon, international artists Louiseanne Pui Chi Wong and Huge Sillytoe will entertain the audience, alongside Sibikwa Arts Centre and Buhle Bapumalanga, at Chazon Tekna School.
Closing the programme on the evening of March 15th, on the breathtaking grounds of Kloppenheim Country Estate, will be a series of performances from Thulisile Binda, Fana Tshabalala, Uvile Ximba and Toby Ngomane, Thapelo Kotlolo, and Vuyani Dance Theatre.
Visitor information
● Free and open to all.
● 10-15 March 2025 across Emakhazeni, Mpumalanga.
● Download the festival programme at https://forgottenangle.co.za/news.html for festival times and locations.
Note: this programme is subject to change – please check the website for the latest updates.
● The weather in Emakhazeni is unpredictable and it is the rainy season, so prepare for all weather conditions since many of the events take place outdoors. Bring sunblock, hats, umbrellas and raincoats. Comfortable walking shoes and bottled water are also advised as the programming entails walking on foot from one site to the next.
About My Body My Space: Public Arts Festival
Curated by the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative (FATC), this annual festival has continued to grow since inception in 2015 by developing a unique rural identity deeply entrenched in beautiful Emakhazeni communities, and bringing people to the art and communities rather than following urban conventions. MBMS focuses on social cohesion in an area that is still palpably lacking in socio-political and socio-economic integration, bringing the diverse rural citizenry of Emakhazeni together by perforating and disrupting the familiar ways in which people traverse shared social spaces.
By integrating existing organisational programming, the festival primarily engages children, youth and people with disabilities in Machadodorp/Emthonjeni, Belfast/Siyathuthuka, Dullstroom/Sakhelwe and Waterval-Boven/Emgwenya communities. This, along with a socially relevant programme of cutting-edge work, attracts the interest of international and local artists, visitors, and promoters to the beautiful villages and communities in the area. The festival demonstrates the power of art and the creative industries as strong drivers for social and economic development, boosting the local economy and tourism, as well as arts and culture by developing local, national, and international audiences. This unique rural public arts festival experience showcases the highest standard of work to create a vibrant arts experience destination.
The festival is presented by the Forgotten Angle Theatre Collaborative with the support of the National Lotteries Council of South Africa; the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture’s Presidential Employment Stimulus Programme; the National Arts Council; the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust; Business Arts South Africa; and Pro Helvetia. Numerous local partners such as The Emakhazeni Local Municipality, Absolute Leisure Cottages, Gooderson Kloppenheim Country Estate, and Chazon Tekna School, amongst others, are a critical backbone of the festival’s infrastructure.
Stay connected
Follow MBMS for programme updates:
Website: https://forgottenangle.co.za/mbms.html
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyBodyMySpace/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fa_theatrecollaborative/
