South African artist Mamela Nyamza is a vital choreographic voice in contemporary performance. Following critical acclaim for HATCHED ENSEMBLE, which opened the 2024 Dance Umbrella Festival and now the recipient of the 2026 Venice Biennale Silver Lion, she returns to London with THE HERD/LESS, a searing new work. Internationally acclaimed for her fearless choreography, Nyamza continues to push at the boundaries of form and convention.
THE HERD/LESS draws on the dual meaning of the ‘herd’: a collective moving in harmony and a group controlled, shaped and directed by cultural and physical forces. Power emerges through ritual, repetition and the quiet surrender of the individual to the group. Cloth and cultural sticks – traditional southern African objects associated with masculine authority – become both symbols of position and tools of control.
This breath-taking ensemble’s movements generate a live, percussive score, creating a sensory landscape that is as immersive as it is disquieting. Beneath the promise of unity and abundance lies a more violent reality: a collective stripped of agency, bound by systems that sustain both beauty and brutality. Nyamza exposes the fallacy of a beautiful world, revealing the tension between harmony and control that sits just beneath the surface of our day-to-day existence.
“Strikingly original... A panoramic, poetic and visually arresting work.”
“A formally rigorous and deeply beautiful piece of dance.”
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Mamela Nyamza
Dancer & Choreographer
Credit Esa Alexander
Mamela Nyamza (she/her)
Dancer & Choreographer
Pretoria (South Africa)
Previous Dance Umbrella credits: HATCHED ENSEMBLE (2024, Barbican Centre); Hatched (2011, The Place)
Born in Gugulethu, Cape Town, Mamela Nyamza is a South African dancer, choreographer, director and activist whose work has redefined the boundaries of dance theatre.
She trained in ballet from the age of eight, going on to graduate from Tshwane University of Technology with a national diploma in ballet, before winning a scholarship to the Alvin Ailey International School in New York.
From early in her career, Nyamza was drawn to the politics of the body – challenging who gets to be a classical dancer and on whose terms. Her landmark work Hatched (2007) launched a practice built on unapologetically deconstructing the norms of classical dance, and her subsequent HATCHED ENSEMBLE was described by The Times as “a strikingly original piece… with communal liberation its chief underlying theme.“
Nyamza’s accolades include the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance (2011) and the Silver Lion at the 2026 Venice Biennale, which recognises artists who have brought new urgency to the language of dance. Through her non-profit company Mamela’s Artistic Movement, she continues to build a creative home for dance artists marginalised by body politics, using performance as a vehicle for social commentary.
Gallery
Credit Kim Stevens
Presented by Dance Umbrella and Sadler’s Wells
Cast & Creative +
- Mamela Nyamza
Creator, Choreographer & Director - Kirsty Ndawo
Rehearsal Manager - Thamsanqa Tshabalala, Hatoentle Tema, Nonofo Olekeng, Mbali Brandt, Thandiwe Mqokeli, Sinazo Bokolo, Thabang Mojapelo, Zandile Constable, Dineo Mapoma
Dance Artists - Mamela Nyamza, Xolani Mawande & Shiba Sopotela
Costume - Mamela Nyamza (Concept) & Karabo Legoabe (Designer)
Set Design - Thabo Pule
Lighting Designer
Credits +
Presented by Dance Umbrella and Sadler’s Wells
Co-producers: Dance Umbrella UK, Venice Biennale 2026 and Lalanbik La Reunion
Venue & Access +
Venue
Address
The entrance to Sadler’s Wells East is off Stratford Walk, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 2AR
Find more information on transport here.
Access information
Sadler’s Wells East is fully accessible and their facilities include:
- Adapted toilets
- Wheelchair spaces
- Lifts and flat access to auditoriums, bars and cafe
- Guide dogs are allowed
Find more information on access here
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