Dance: Nyamza wins Silver Lion

Mamela Nyamza has just been pushed into one of contemporary dance’s most visible international lanes: Venice named her the 2026 Silver Lion winner, and the festival will run from July 17 to August 1 under director Wayne McGregor. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) The Silver Lion is not a local prize with a grand name. It comes from La Biennale di Venezia, the Venice institution founded in 1895 that also runs major festivals in art, film, theatre, music and dance. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) Venice paired Nyamza’s award with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement for Bangarra Dance Theatre of Australia, which tells you the level of company she is now being placed alongside. The Biennale’s own citation says both honorees have reshaped dance language through the force of their cultures of origin. (labiennale.org 1) (labiennale.org 2) Nyamza did not arrive as a sudden discovery from nowhere. She was born and raised in Gugulethu near Cape Town, started ballet at age 8 at Zama Dance School, and later earned a National Diploma in Ballet at Pretoria Dance Technikon. (chrflagship.uwc.ac.za) (zeitzmocaa.museum) Her work is built on collision rather than purity. Her company profile lists ballet, modern dance, African dance, gumboot dance and Butoh among her training, and her choreography is known for mixing traditional and contemporary forms instead of keeping them in separate boxes. (mamelasartisticmovement.co.za) (tanzimaugust.de) That mix is also political. Tanz im August describes her career as a fight for means, recognition and dignity inside dance institutions shaped by apartheid and by ballet’s old gatekeeping codes. (tanzimaugust.de) Venice is rewarding exactly that edge. Wayne McGregor’s introduction to the 2026 programme says Nyamza’s new work, *The Herd/Less*, disturbs “codes of unexamined power, privilege and patronage,” and the piece is billed as a Biennale Danza co-commission and European premiere. (labiennale.org) The award has already opened another door: Dansehallerne announced Nyamza as one of five finalists for the 2026 Salavisa European Dance Award, alongside Chiara Bersani, Dan Daw, Jefta van Dinther and Lukas Avendaño. The shortlist was chosen by representatives from nine European institutions, so this is not one curator’s enthusiasm but a continent-wide nomination process. (dansehallerne.dk) Back home, the international win is turning straight into performances, not just press. TimesLIVE and other South African outlets report that Nyamza is bringing *Hatched Ensemble* to Cape Town on April 29 and 30 and premiering *The Herd/Less* there on May 1 and 2 at the Baxter Theatre. (timeslive.co.za) (news24.com) So the story is bigger than one trophy on one night in Venice. In less than two months, Nyamza has moved from a February 19 Biennale announcement to a July European festival platform, a finalist spot for another major award, and a Cape Town homecoming that puts the global recognition back in front of the communities that made her. (labiennale.org) (dansehallerne.dk) (timeslive.co.za)