Choreographer Janine Booysens presents “Convergence” at the first-ever ACDC Duet Xchange happening 22 – 23 May at The Star Theatre and shows just why watching this will make you move…
Now preparing to present Convergence at the inaugural ACDC Duet Xchange: The Art of Duet – 22 & 23 May at The Star Theatre, Homecoming Centre – Booysens arrives not only as an accomplished choreographer and educator, but as someone deeply invested in making contemporary dance feel accessible, emotionally resonant and human.
“Contemporary dance allows us to be human,” she tells me during our conversation. It’s a simple statement, but one that stayed with me long after the interview ended. Booysens grew up in Bridgetown, where she first discovered ballet at the age of seven at Bridgeville Primary School. Unlike many dancers whose artistic journeys begin with ambitious parents, this one started entirely with her own curiosity.
Booysens has spent more than 15 years teaching dance, including at UCT, where one of her students a few years ago, happened to be a young Brazilian dancer named Anderson Carvalho.
Years later, the former student has invited his former teacher to present work at the first edition of the platform. And the work she is bringing feels deeply aligned with the spirit of the event itself.
Booysens’s Convergence is a collection of four contemporary dance duets exploring human connection through movement. But these are not abstract concepts floating somewhere above an audience’s head. They are recognisable emotional spaces: attraction, fragility, support, friendship, trust, dependence, identity.
One duet explores two bodies drawn to one another but unable to touch. Another follows a woman finding strength through the support of an unseen presence. A third investigates mirroring and playful companionship, while Depth of Dialogue – perhaps the most tender of the four – centres on two men navigating emotional kinship and trust through movement rather than words.
Importantly, Booysens doesn’t create work simply to impress dancers. She wants audiences to feel something. “I want to sit there and feel it,” she says when speaking about both choreography and judging. “Not just beautiful technique. I want to feel something.”
That feels particularly important at a time when contemporary dance can sometimes feel intimidating or inaccessible to wider audiences. During our conversation, we spoke at length about the need to broaden audiences beyond the dance community itself.
Why shouldn’t contemporary dance be part of an ordinary night out? Why shouldn’t audiences who stream series at home or go to the cinema feel equally comfortable stepping into a theatre?
For Booysens, contemporary dance works best when people recognise themselves inside it. Not in perfection, nor in polished presentation, but in vulnerability, emotion, humour, tension, softness and connection.
PROGRAMME SNAPSHOT
Day 1 Highlights (22 May):
Convergence – Janine Booysens
Speak the Hidden – New World Dance Theatre
Journal – Northern Dance Project
Intimacy of the Skin – Anderson Carvalho
Day 2 Highlights (23 May):
Unraveled – Aaghier Isaacs
Tainted – Nicolas Laubscher
Salt in My Mouth – Awonke Mtonjana
Parasite – Michael Halim
The Third Day – Mbongeni Moyake
By My Stripes Shall I be Known – Lusindiso Dibela
Guest works: Discord (Gain Collective), Onrus (Oorleef Dance Project)
Tickets are priced at R150, with box office proceeds shared directly among the local guest artists – offering audiences a meaningful way to support the creation and sustainability of new South African dance.
EVENT DETAILS
ACDC Duet Xchange 2026: The Art of the Duet
Star Theatre, Homecoming Centre, Cape Town
22 & 23 May 2026
19:00 nightly
Tickets available at Webtickets
