| What: PULSE, The Waterfront Theatre School’s annual dance production When: August 27-30, 2026 Where: The Lane Theatre, Waterfront Theatre School (Port Rd & Alfred St, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town), Cape Town Bookings: The Pulse programme RITE CHOREOGRAPHY James Bradley DANCERS Sinokuhle / Bianca / Bo / Monica / Iviwe / Rita / Tshepisho / Rachel / Joshua / Kudzai / Khwezi / Fabiano / Manu ADRENALINE CHOREOGRAPHY Simone Ashley, Marshall Kleinenberg and Kudzai Kamwendo DANCERS Iviwe (Dance Captain) / Tshepisho (Assistant Dance Captain) / Jami / Rita / Hailie / Monica / Kudzai / John / Fabiano / Khwezi / Joshua / Manu / Siya RED CHOREOGRAPHY Shona Brabant DANCERS Bianca / Monica / Iviwe / Rachel / Rita / Siya / Laila / Tshepisho / Babzi / Josie / Joshua / Kudzai / Khwezi / Fabiano AFTER DARK CHOREOGRAPHY Genna Galloway DANCERS Joshua / Rachel / Fabiano / Sinokuhle / Kudzai / Manu / Josie / Siya / Rita / Laila / Bianca / Tshepisho / Iviwe |
I was at the opening of PULSE, The Waterfront Theatre School’s annual dance production. This stunning production is dance theatre par excellence, is on August 27-30, 2026 in the Lane Theatre.
The exhilarating programme features four dance languages – contemporary, tap, neoclassical and Broadway Jazz, and celebrates them by “bringing them together through one shared heartbeat”: Pulse. RITE is choreographed by James Bradley; RED, choreographed by Shona Brabant; ADRENALINE
choreographed bySimone Ashley Marshall Kleinenberg and Kudzai Kamwendo and AFTER DARK, choreographed by Genna Rowley. See the box, above, for the dancers. Remember their names. They should be nabbed by dance companies – never mind being cast in musical theatre productions
The dancers – from 1st to 4th year – at the WTS – are not only excellent dancers – with impeccable technique – but are also theatrically present – texturing their performances with gravitas and drama. They bring humour and depth to the dance – feeling the movement, motifs, beats and music. It is dance theatre.
The tap dance is astounding.
I loved the costumes – very on-trend with lots of wide legged silhouettes.
This WTS cohort is exceptional. The excellence of WTS was evidenced in its recent production of the musical, Something Rotten! at Artscape
And now-
This. Pulse.
This is a quickie shout out as it is a short run – a fabulously entertaining show for the weekend.
But, before I sign off –
I loved the stunning closing piece, AFTER DARK, choreographed by Genna Rowley, which is a tribute and homage to Broadway Jazz, with a contemporary vibe and yes, the wide legged silhouettes, I mentioned. It is very Bob Fosse and when I was raving to Delia Sainsbury (one of the partners of WTS), she told me that AFTER DARK is also very much a tribute by Genna to her late dad, Keith Galloway who was a Fosse dancer. That was before marrying Delia and then both of them touring to South Africa and making Cape Town their home and eventually establishing the Waterfront Theatre School. Their energy, creativity, professionalism is embodied in AFTER DARK, channeled via their daughter, Genna Galloway-Rowley.
I must add to my rave about the tap dance sequence – ADERENALINE – choreographed by Simone Ashley, Marshall Kleinenberg and Kudzai Kamwendo is off the charts fantabulous. It is a big number, complex and layered with three choreographers on board. They had a dance captain and assistant dance captain for this number – impressive for a work on a dance showcase. I would love to see it developed further – into a tap musical.
In response to my rapturous response to ADRENALINE, Simone Ashley reflected in a WhatsApp to me, this afternoon:
“The original spark for ADRENALINE came quite unexpectedly. I first heard Go by The Chemical Brothers at a family 60th birthday celebration, and the track immediately struck me. It had this extraordinary sense of drive, urgency and momentum, and I remember thinking that it could become the foundation for something very different in tap.
From there, the idea developed into an exploration of a more athletic and physical style of tap — one that used not only the feet, but the full body as part of the rhythmic and visual language. In our research, we revisited the extraordinary physicality of artists such as the Nicholas Brothers, taking inspiration from their athleticism, musicality and fearlessness, while reimagining those qualities within a much more contemporary dance aesthetic.
I was also working with some of our most capable young tap dancers, and I wanted to create something that genuinely challenged them — technically, physically, artistically and musically. The Chemical Brothers’ music demanded a different kind of response from us. Its electronic layers, repetition, drive and intensity encouraged us to analyse rhythm differently and to explore how tap could sit inside that sound world without simply dancing on top of it.
The boards became an important part of that process. Initially they were a practical necessity, but very quickly they became a creative asset. Rather than allowing them to remain static, we began moving them through the choreography, using them to alter formations, create new patterns and reshape the stage. They became part of the visual architecture of the piece as well as the instrument beneath the dancers’ feet.
One of the most rewarding aspects of the process was collaborating so closely with our graduating students and allowing them to contribute meaningfully to the creation of the work. Kudzai played an important role in additional choreography, the development of the board work and the rehearsal process, while Iviwe and Tshepisho, as Dance Captain and Assistant Dance Captain, were instrumental in helping maintain the detail, discipline and performance quality of the piece. Having these senior dancers take ownership within the creative process gave ADRENALINE an added sense of collaboration and maturity, and made the work feel genuinely shaped by the company rather than simply taught to them.
Ultimately, ADRENALINE was about pushing our own idea of what a tap routine could be. We wanted the work to feel original, powerful and empowering, and to demonstrate the strength of tap within the college. It was important that the piece could stand completely on its own as a theatrical experience — not simply as a tap number, but as a work driven equally by rhythm, movement, physicality, music and spectacle.”
Bravo to team WTS.
✳ PULSE – pics supplied by The Waterfront Theatre School.
