Contemporary Dance Laboratory

🌟 Congratulations to our incredible CDL students on their beautiful achievements at the Paarl Valley / Intlambo / Vallei Eisteddfod ✨

🥇 GOLD
✨ “Candy Trouble” — U5 Group | Green School Branch Green School South Africa
✨ “Dancing on a Rainbow” — 7–8 yrs Group | CDL Main Studio & Carnegie School Branch Carnegie House Independent Schools

🥈 SILVER PLUS
✨ “The Mind Game” — 7–8 yrs Group | Green School Branch

🥈 SILVER
✨ “Moon” — Teen Group | CDL Main Studio

Dance is always teamwork. It is the children’s passion and love for dance, together with the care, encouragement, and support of parents and teachers, that makes these moments possible.

A heartfelt thank you to PVE for the wonderful opportunity and experience! 🌿

March is a meaningful time in South Africa as we celebrate Human Rights Day (21 March) — a reminder of dignity, equality, and freedom for all. It’s also a powerful moment to engage young people in conversations about identity, empathy, and shared humanity.

Through the global campaign 2026, we are creating spaces where learners can experience, reflect, and connect through performance and movement — aligned with the World Day of Theatre for Children and Young People (20 March) and International Dance Day (29 April).

✨ What we offer:

💃 Movement Workshops
Free contemporary dance workshops in Paarl and surrounding areas (March–May 2026).
Building confidence, creativity, and self-expression.
Free participation | Registration required https://forms.gle/aJ1sdJi7ZZYLefXm6

🌿 The Forest
An interactive performance for Grades R–5 blending live performance, animation, and audience participation.
A magical, immersive journey into imagination and emotional awareness.
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aD8XM0_WXjPS1ZRjLqlexPuVBLWhWSPiB5nf9V0kSNw/edit?usp=share_link

📩 More information & registration:
To find out more or to book a performance or workshop for your school, please contact us directly or follow the registration link in our bio.

📸 Photos from CDL archives, captured during with learners from Paarl and Cape Town

Let’s use the arts to celebrate Human Rights Month and inspire a generation of thoughtful, creative, and empowered young people.

✨ Ready to join us? Enrol today — link in bio ✨

👶 Wiggle Wonders (3–4 yrs)
Play, imagination & the joy of movement

🌱 Little Movers (5–6 yrs)
Curiosity, confidence & creativity

⭐ Rising Stars (7–9 yrs)
Expression, teamwork & growing skills

🔥 Dynamic Kids (10–13 yrs)
Identity, strength & self-expression

🎭 Young Ensemble (14–17 yrs)
Artistry, empowerment & individuality

As we close another meaningful year, we extend our heartfelt thanks to our team, partners, parents, and wonderful students. None of this year’s achievements would have been possible without your trust, commitment, and shared belief in the power of dance.

For us, dance is not only what we do — it is how we dream, connect, and move forward together (year-in-review - link in the first comment)

Join us in 2026: https://forms.gle/pvBfpsU3MJiB54hM9

CDL wishes everyone a safe, joyful, and blessed festive season.
Here’s to another year of dancing, growing, and imagining the world we want to live in.

Happy holidays • Amaholide amahle • Iholide ezimnandi • Gelukkige vakansie • Вітаємо зі святами!

Kindly note: CDL will reopen on 15 January 2026

In December, CDL attended Theatre Arts’ Peter Hayes Awards, celebrating the year’s outstanding productions. Out of 116 shows, 12 received awards — and we congratulate all participants!

Earlier this year, in March 2025, The Forest, part of the campaign led by ASSITEJ South Africa, explored our connection with nature and invited children and adults to imagine a magical world where we are creators, not just observers. The Forest, which received an Ovation Award at the National Arts Festival 2025, also honours over 20,000 Ukrainian children forcibly taken from their families, carrying hope that they may one day return home.

As the year comes to a close, we celebrate South Africa’s YES vote for the UN Resolution on the Return of Ukrainian Children on 3 December 2025. Our heartfelt thanks go to President Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African Government, and everyone who stood for this cause ❤

Read more: http://www.uaza.co.za/south-africa-voted-yes-for-the-un.../

CDL Project Unseen Women began as a somatic workshop and grew into a moving dance-and-poetry performance exploring identity, resilience, and the power of reclaiming one’s story. Inspired by the poetry of , the piece was created with choreographer .aloshyna and the Contemporary Dance Laboratory Adult Group — women from diverse backgrounds who bring their own lived experiences into the creative process.

Some return to dance after many years; others step onstage for the first time. Together, they create a space of trust, honesty, and expression.

Through its blend of movement and poetry, Unseen Women reflects the many layers of womanhood — seen and unseen, fragile and fierce, rooted in memory yet moving toward transformation.

“So I dance,
not to perform,
but to testify
that I am not just alive —
I am the voice in the room,
I am light.”
Merle Danhouse

Unseen Women offers a space for reflection, healing, and renewed strength — a shared act of witnessing and transformation through dance, poetry, and community.

If this work resonates with you, we invite you to join our CDL Adult Dance Group next year. Open to women of all backgrounds — from beginners to experienced movers — our classes offer a warm, supportive space to explore contemporary dance, build confidence, and connect with others.

Sign up through the link below
https://forms.gle/HM5sbSHSn7imvDSh8
We can’t wait to dance with you.

This November, Contemporary Dance Laboratory (CDL) hosted its Annual Concert, marking another meaningful year of artistic development and community engagement. The event highlighted not only our progress over the past year but also the direction in which CDL continues to grow — guided by movement, education, and social awareness.

The concert featured the impressive work of our dancers, ages 3 to 18, from our main studio as well as our House Independent Schools and School branches. Their commitment and passion were evident on stage and remain central to our mission.

We were honoured to welcome our guests from the Dance Company (Cape Town): Litha Makanda, Lusindiso Dibela, Sonwabile Mhlonyane, Vuyolwethu Mdluli, award-winning choreographer Sbonakaliso Ndaba, and director Paula Kelly. Their participation added significant artistic value and strengthened the spirit of exchange within our wider dance community.

This event was made possible through the dedication and professionalism of our team and volunteers, including:
• Cindy Stenge and Bulelwa Senge from Carnegie School
• Green School: Mikayla & Riaan
• Jaco from TopSound – lighting
• DJ Dylan Myburgh & our “real Spiderman” Terence Myburgh
• Anel Maharajah from Tailored Arts Drama Academy
• CDL co-founder: Nukesshia Lekay and Ockert Prince
• Photographer: Nina Laubscher

We extend our sincere appreciation to the parents whose ongoing support enables their children to thrive in the studio and on stage. Each young dancer brings unique creativity and potential, and it is a privilege to guide their development.

Here’s to another year of dancing, growing, and creating the world we want to live in. 🌍💫

🌸 Happy Women’s Day 🌸

📷 Photo by
capturing a moment of shared magic at “The Unseen Woman” workshop in August 2025 - it was a journey into truth, breath, and connection.

We are deeply grateful to every woman who joined us, trusted the process, and allowed herself to be seen.
You brought your truth, your softness, your strength — and you made the space come alive.

Here’s to the women we are,
the women we have been,
and the women we are still becoming.

Happy Women’s Day — may we keep uncovering what is unseen. 🌿

Thank You, 🌿

We are honoured to have The Forest included in this year’s Fringe programme and deeply moved to receive an Ovation Awards 2025.

This performance is inspired by Forest Song, a timeless poetic drama written in the 19th century by the Ukrainian poet Lesya Ukrainka. With its mythical characters and the deep symbolism of the forest, it reminds us: when we lose our connection to nature, we lose a part of our soul.

Today, that message feels more urgent than ever. As the world faces climate crisis, war, and displacement, we are challenged to reimagine our relationship with the Earth — and with each other.

Ukraine continues to fight for a world built on respect, freedom, and dignity — where everyone belongs, and not where muscle makes right.

In The Forest, children enter a magical world where they are not just consumers of reality, but creators of it.

We carry with us the heartbreaking truth that more than 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly separated from their families and deported to Russia. These children are denied the right to dream freely — but we hold hope they will one day return home.

This performance was made possible by the strength of many hearts and hands. Our heartfelt thanks to our partners:
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Production credits
Idea & Choreography: .aloshyna
Music: .berezhnyuk (Ukrainian sopilka) and Dmytro Aleksienko (beatboxing)
Animation: Mykyta Budantsov
Dancers: 
Poster Designer:

Let us remember: without our planet, there is no future — and only by recognising each other’s humanity, whether in South Africa or in Ukraine, can we build a world that is safe, free, and shared by all.