Stomping feet, hypnotic movements and world-class skill were on show during the first week of South Africa's contemporary dance bonanza, the FNB Dance Umbrella, in Johannesburg last week.

A design show to be held in Cape Town at the weekend is expected to generate close to R200 million for the city's economy, organisers said on Wednesday.

Lyric soprano Pumeza Matshikiza is the 2010 winner of the sixth Veronica Dunne International Singing Competition, a critically acclaimed opera contest in Dublin, Ireland.

Arts sponsorship has more than doubled since 2001 when the arts market was estimated at around R136 million, growing to nearly R360 million in 2009. Of this, music sponsorship attracts nearly 50% of all the sponsorship spend.

Two South Africa-themed, filmed-in-South Africa movies - sci-fi thriller District 9 and Nelson Mandela/Rugby World Cup drama Invictus - have been nominated for six Oscar awards between them.

District 9, set in a South African township inhabited by aliens, received Academy Award nominations in four categories, namely: best picture, best editing, best adapted screenplay, and best visual effects.

Invictus, directed by Clint Eastwood, won nominations for best actor for Morgan Freeman, who portrays Nelson Mandela in the film, and for best supporting actor for Matt Damon, who portrays Springbok rugby captain Francois Pienaar.

South African director Neill Blomkamp's "District 9" bagged seven nominations for Britain's main film awards, the BAFTAs.

One of South Africa’s leading Hip Hop artists arrives in the United States today for a two-week stay at a Washington-based non-profit organization. Hip-Hop Pantsula, also known as Jabba, will be mixing with big names in the industry and working on initiatives aimed at promoting education and uniting communities.

South Africa will be the country of honour at the 2010 edition of the Marché International du Disque et de l'Edition Musicale (Midem), the world's largest music industry fair.

District 9 and science-fiction blockbuster Avatar were among the nominees for the Producers Guild of America Awards' top honour on Tuesday, regarded as a key indicator of likely Oscars contenders.

The Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra (JPO) will kick off 2010 on a high note with a R36 million cash injection from the Lotto.

Oscar-winning actress Jennifer Hudson is to play Winnie Mandela in a film charting the turbulent life and times of the ex-wife of South Africa's first black president, it was reported Wednesday.

Africa’s first dual-language mobile novel, or m-novel, Kontax, has grabbed the attention of local tech-savvy youth by offering an intriguing tale packaged in a highly accessible, exciting format.

South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma began his first official U.S. tour this month with his evocative work "Beautiful Me", a solo piece that blends ancestral stomping and modern movement with sitar music and Indian dance.

South African art fetched record prices in London at Bonhams' sixth South African art sale, the auctioneer said on Thursday. The auction brought in a total of 2.5 million pounds and new world record prices were achieved for six artists.

Musicians and singers who are living in KwaZulu-Natal will no longer have to travel to Johannesburg to record their music, thanks to the opening of a R15 million recording studio in the province.

Aliens from outer space are practically crawling out of the walls in Soweto, the famous township on the edge of Johannesburg. But it's not an invasion, it's a cause for celebration.

Multi-award winning American alternative rock band The Killers have announced that they will be playing in Cape Town and Johannesburg in December.

Leopard-print in acid pink and orange show African fashion with a twist, flinging curio-like interpretation off the ramp as local designers seek to show their diverse talent and find global appeal.

District 9, a gritty, low-budget space alien movie set in South Africa with a cast of unknowns and directed and co-written by a South African, opened as Hollywood's No. 1 film, grossing more at the box office its first weekend than it cost to make.

 

Three paintings by renowned South African artist JH Pierneef will be auctioned in London on 14 October, Bonhams said on Tuesday.

Eleven-year-old Sobahle Mkhabase lives in a township but is headed for the red carpet as the star of a new South African film scooping festival awards and drawing inevitable comparisons with "Slumdog Millionaire".

The Department of Arts and Culture’s Downtown Music Hub will give SA’s music industry a much needed boost as it sets out to become the first entity in the country to provide opportunities across the entire value chain of the local music sector. 

South African  filmmaker John Barker's latest script, “The Umbrella Men,” has earned him a place in the prestigious  L'Atelier de Cinefondation Programme of the 2009 Cannes Film Festival.

The true story of four South African photographers who risked their lives to capture the harrowing political violence of the early 90's will be told in a new feature film currently being co-produced by Canadian and South African filmmakers. 

The story of the Bang Bang Club, as photographers Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva were then known, was first recounted in a semi-autobiographical book written by the surviving Club members, Silva and Marinovich.
 
The movie screenplay has been written by Steven Silver who will also direct the film. Lance Samuels and Adam Friedlander of Johannesburg-based Out Of Africa Entertainment will produce the film in collaboration with Daniel Iron of Foundry Films in Canada.