For the first time, South African audiences will have the opportunity to see a landmark work by modern dance pioneer Martha Graham when the WGRUV Dance Company brings its 2026 season to a close in Gqeberha next month.
The professional contemporary ballet company, founded by artistic director Holly Gruver, will present Angels In Africa, a triple bill at the Mandela Bay Opera House from November 5 to 8.
The production will then travel north for a festive-season run at the University of Johannesburg Arts and Culture Centre from November 12 to 15, before returning to the Roodepoort Theatre from December 15 to 20.
Conceived as WGRUV's Season 3 finale, Angels In Africa brings together three works exploring love, spirituality, human connection and the unseen.
The evening opens with Reverence, choreographed by Jessica Lang and set to Robert Schumann's Symphonic Studies, Op. 13.
Lang describes the work as “my definition of ballet”.
Four couples move through shifting partnerships, turns, lifts and embraces, alternating between stillness and fluidity.
Recurring circular formations give the work a sense of continuity and interconnectedness.
The programme then moves into Prayer, an imaginative work by Lex and Holly Gruver which invites audiences to look beyond what is immediately visible.
Through movement rooted in WGRUV's contemporary style, the work seeks to communicate depth and soul while turning the mind towards what is unseen and eternal.
The final work on the programme is perhaps its most significant.
Diversion of Angels, the landmark 1948 ballet by American modern dance pioneer Martha Graham, will receive its South African premiere as part of the production.
Staged during the Martha Graham Dance Company's centennial year, the work explores three stages of love — adolescent, romantic and mature — through a single composition.
WGRUV is the first company to bring the masterwork to South African stages.
For Gruver, the opportunity carries particular significance.
“This programme is a gift to Africa,” she said.
“Three works, three visions of what it means to love, to reach beyond ourselves, and to be still enough to see it.
"We're grateful to carry Diversion of Angels into the Graham Company’s hundredth year, and to share it here, for the first time, with the audiences of Gqeberha.”
The Gqeberha performances will take place at the Mandela Bay Theatre Complex.
A dress rehearsal will be held on Thursday November 5, at 3pm at R50. All other performances are priced at R250 for general admission, R180 for pensioners and R99 for children aged two to 12.
Groups of 10 or more pay R180 per ticket, while family packages are also available.
Tickets are available through Webtickets.
