The Amsterdam-based Dogtroep theatre company comes to Durban in February and March to host one of their nationally acclaimed workshops. They will work and share ideas with eight Durban based artists, actors and musicians: Masha DuToit, Daniela Dunywa, Thando Mama, Brendon Bussy, Dean Henning, Welile Thembe, Thami Sikhosana and Jodi Georgiades.. The process will culminate in a series of presentations open to the general public.

Although Dogtroep is a theatre-company, they hardly use text or words in their performances – the language is music and images. The trademark of this international group of artists from different disciplines - visual artists, musicians, actors and inventors - is to start at individual points of fascination, resulting in site-specific shows for a wide audience, varying from intimate to large-scale performances.

Dogtroep has constantly developed through the inspiration and input from the individual artist's search for new forms of vital, integrated art. Created 25 years ago as a raw street-theatre-event collective presenting parades in grotesque costumes, Dogtroep later became well-known for big-scale performances such as The World Expo in Seville, the Winter Olympics and in the Royal Carre Theatre in Amsterdam. In 1994 Dogtroep worked for the first time in South Africa in Johannesburg during the Arts Alive Festival.

During the last couple of years Dogtroep re-invented itself. Since 1999 a new artistic director and virtually new artistic team has been in place. The basic principles of Dogtroep have remained but the new focus is on contemporary, urban issues. New elements introduced in Dogtroep performances are contemporary media (video) and electronic music.