Following the success of her sophomore solo poetry show in July, Siphokazi Jonas will present her new production, Wrestling With Dawn, on Sunday 20 December, at The Kaleidoscope Café, 56 Main Road in Claremont.
The UCT graduate, and former Queenstown local, holds a Masters degree in English literature, as well as a Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and English, all of which will be put to full use when Wrestling With Dawn is captured live to DVD, for release in the New Year.
The first DVD recording of its kind in South Africa, Siphokazi can simply not wait to seize the day! “I have told so many stories as a poet, and for the first time ever, I would like to tell my own,” she says of her motivation behind this highly anticipated poetry and purpose-fuelled work. “As I look back over the last 29 years of my life and forward to a new phase, I will reflect, not only on my life experiences, but on how I have been impacted by the stories I have told and the people I have met.”
“In Wrestling With Dawn I share both the major and minute moments that have made me who I am,” she adds. “The heart of this production is about the struggle of overcoming the fears and insecurities that make it difficult for us to accept and live out our purpose and dreams. The challenges of growing up, acceptance and rejection, faith, love, motivation, and identity are all confronted.”
Sneak a peek into the mental and spiritual journey that it takes to share stories and lives as only Siphokazi Jonas can in, Wrestling With Dawn, through poetry. “This live DVD recording, to be released in 2016, and will be unique in the country,” she concludes.
Wrestling With Dawn, will see Siphokazi accompanied by Jason Skippers and Didier Richards and will also feature Christy-Lyn Marais and Roeshdien Jaz. Tickets to this Nice Beard Studios production cost R130 and two for R250, and are available via booking and from the venue. The production commences at 3pm sharp. Help her make history in Wrestling With Dawn this December, while being present to witness poetic posterity live.
This vital and voracious poet has been pushing the envelope in the work she has been producing over the past year, and has been featured in the Inzync Poetry Sessions, Expression Session Kuilsriver, Grounding Sessions and Artsemble.
Siphokazi has also been an opening act for UK Hip Hop artist S.O. and American poets Alysia Harris, Janette Ikz and Ezekiel Azonwu. The latter invited her to feature at a performance in Los Angeles, California, which she attended in August 2015. She was recently crowned the first Home of Poetry slam champion at the Cape Town Ultimate Slam on 31 May 2015.
She is also the curator of Poetica, at the Open Book Festival, and recently featured in the February issue of Authors Magazine and the June issue of Mango Airlines’ in-flight magazine, Juice.
Siphokazi performed at Music Exchange 2014, to an audience including the likes of international heavyweights of the caliber of Mos Def, Trevor Jones, AKA, Estelle Kockot, RJ Benjamin, and Hotstix Mabuse, amongst others. Last August she was the guest artist at the Open Mic Jazz competition at GrandWest, along with Bev Scott Brown.
The young wordsmith has most recently worked with the Applauz Arts Initiative, at the Adam Small Festival. Collaboration is a defining feature of her work and has led her to sharing the stage with local legends Pops Mohammed, Dave Reynolds, Frank Paco and Amanda Tiffin too.
For more information contact:
Triple M Entertainment
Martin MyersE-mail: martmyers
Martin Myers 
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