The Playhouse Company’s 2007 Traditional Arts Festival (TAF) promises a burst of cultural spectacle at The Playhouse September 8 and 22.

A central feature of the Celebrate Durban spring season, the two-pronged event offers audiences the chance of witnessing an explosion of traditional and indigenous performance skills in full flight, as hundreds of dancers and singers show their paces onstage, facing stiff competition from their peers.

A significant boost to Durban’s cultural tourism palette, TAF opens on September 8 at 10h00 with the spectacular one-day Traditional Zulu Dance Competition, to be presented in the Playhouse Opera. This magnificent display of leading dance groups from across KwaZulu-Natal includes a variety of traditional styles, among them Isishiyameni, Indlamu, Ngoma and Isigekle. Tickets are R30 and can be booked through Computicket.

The 10th all-night National Isicathamiya Competition takes place on September 22, ending as always the following morning with prize-giving after adjudication has been completed of competitors from all over KwaZulu-Natal, Transkei and further afield.

To mark 10 years of Isicathamiya at the Playhouse, a special coffee table book is in the pipeline. Following last year’s precedent, to accommodate the ever-growing number of contestants and their supporters, the National Isicathamiya Competition will take place in the Durban City Hall. Tickets R55 available through Computicket.