In 2010 the inaugural JOMBA! Khuluma Writing Residency was hosted under the mentorship of veteran South African dance writer and journalist, Adrienne Sichel.  In 2015, Clare Craighead joined Sichel as co-host, and has subsequently taken on the duties of hosting, administering and delivering the platform on behalf of JOMBA! 

The aim of the residency is to provide graduate students studying dance the opportunity to grow their skills as dance writers, while also experiencing the rigours of working as a festival journalist. Initially these students were drawn from UKZN’s Drama and Performance Studies Programme, however in 2020 in lieu of our first fully digital festival we welcomed a broader student cohort including international guests from USA and the UK, expanding again in 2021 to include our first student cohort from the UAE.  2022 sees us shift gears once again, as we move into hybrid festival offerings, so too has the Khuluma platform considered a hybrid format.  This year our platform includes writers from the UK’s University of East London, UAE’s Co|laboratory as well as UKZN alongside some guest writers who have participated in our Khuluma platform in previous years.  

The Khuluma runs as a series of seminars and critical discussions, that engage our young writers in the mechanics and ethics of reviewing; and our growing international co-hort also enables rich cross-cultural engagement.  Craighead is joined by international collaborators including UKZN and JOMBA! alumni Dr. Sarahleigh Castelyn from the School of Arts and Creative Industries, University of East London (UK) and inaugural Khuluma Writing Residency participant and now Artistic Director of UAE-Based arts collaborative “The Co|laboratory”:  Lauren Noble.  We also welcome back our long-time Khuluma contributor and co-facilitator Tammy Ballantyne from The Ar(t)chive (WITS School of the Arts).

Our-in house isiZulu translator, UKZN Honours graduate Lisa Goldstone also rejoins us for our 2022 Khuluma edition thus enabling our third bilingual Khuluma edition as part of this 24^th JOMBA! Contemporary Dance Experience.