On Thursday, 24 November UJ Arts & Culture presented a very special and moving event which showcased Agulhas’ work with people with disabilities. The event was directed by UJ Arts and Culture’s resident choreographer, Owen Lonzar, who worked with Agulhas almost a decade ago. According to Lonzar, he wanted to conceptualise a new format for the award presentation that was as unique as the work of this year’s recipient. “I would never have guessed that we would come full circle ten years later and I would be conceiving an awards event to honour her work as a choreographer and her unique contribution to dance,” he said.

“Dance is a moving force which creates and transforms ideas into life changing moving art, working from the unseen and making it visible” said Agulhas who collaborated closely with Lonzar to present the showcase of her work in lieu of a memorial lecture.

Following a welcome and introduction by Georgina Thomson, the 2010 recipient of the award, guests were taken into one of the UJ Arts Centre dance studios where they were invited to view a documentary of a two-day workshop facilitated by Agulhas between able-bodied UJ students and disabled dancers. Students were encouraged to journal the process in various forms including poetry, recorded sound and craft which were on display for the invited audience to interact with. Finally guests were led into the loading bay of the theatre where they were blind-folded and led on to stage where a performance resulting from the workshop was presented.

Agulhas studied Integrated Contemporary Dance Teaching with renowned teacher Adam Benjamin, completing a residency programme in the UK and Switzerland. An ex-senior dancer for the former Johannesburg Dance Theatre, she has a long history of involvement with Dance in Education. In collaboration with Remix Dance Project in Cape Town and the International Conference for Disability and Arts in Sweden she has presented papers and conducted workshops. She is currently working with her Company “ATW - Agulhas Theatre Works” on various outreach programmes, corporate and mainstream theatre performances. ATW performed at the opening of the disABILITY Consultative Conference Access-Awareness-Arts.

At the request of Dr Ivan May who passed away on 31 December 2010, the Tunkie Award has been presented by the UJ Arts & Culture since 2009. The 2011 Award was dedicated to him.

Previous recipients of the award have included David April, Alfred Hinkel, the late Jackie Semela, Sylvia Glasser, Robyn Orlin, Jay Pather, Philip Stein, Nicola Danby and Adrienne Sichel. Their names are engraved on the floating trophy, a Chi Wara a ceremonial headdress from Mali, which is on permanent display in the foyer of the UJ Arts Centre Theatre.