Wits University’s Pitso Ya Kalaneng festival celebrates art in all its forms [VIDEO]

True to its name, the Pitso Ya Kalaneng: A Call to Theatre festival, which is part of Wits University’s annual orientation programme, combines all art forms to welcome new students.

“We hope to ensure that the new students on the campus, whether they’re involved in the arts directly or not, will understand the vitality of such activities and the excitement that can come from it,” manager of the Wits Theatre, Malcom Purkey told The Citizen.

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Pitso Ya Kalaneng’s second edition

The festival is in its second year after its establishment at Wits’s 40th anniversary celebrations last year.

Pitso Ya Kalaneng celebrates the arts in all their forms, including dance, theatre, music, photography, and literature.

The programme is curated by Wits’s Theatre and Performance division.

The festival utilises all four of Wits’s theatre venues, as well as the space outside the Wits Theatre Complex, the foyer of the Main Theatre and the space outside the Great Hall.

One of the lessons gained from the first edition is that the festival should start a week after the institution reopens.

“Therefore attracting a much wider audience,” said Purkey.

“We also learnt how to keep the costs contained, because that’s very much an important part of our current thinking.”

Last year, the festival ran for a week. This year it will run for a month.

“I’m delighted that this year’s festival is almost a month, rather than a week in length,” Purkey said.

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Connecting all art disciplines

There is a purpose to the festival’s commitment to the cocktail of art forms that will presented throughout its duration.

“That’s very important for the arts in general, to understand all the connections that are possible between the different disciplines.”

From 27 February to 1 March, the festival will stage what Purkey describes as a “fantastic piece of dance” in the space outside the Great Hall steps.

The festival is divided into a theatre festival, which runs from 10 to 14 February, and a dance festival, which runs from 19 to 22 February and 27 February to 1 March.

The festival’s pricing speaks to making it accessible to its targeted audience.

Tickets are R100; with students only having to pay R50.

“We’ve kept the pricing very low because our target audience is primarily students and I suppose academics and staff on the campus,” shared the theatre practitioner.

“But we’re also very interested in expanding the audience for our theatre and general public, in particular those who live and work in Braamfontein.”

Parking is available in the Station Street parking area around the theatre and in the Solomon Mahlangu Building (the entrance is on Jorissen Street).

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