Desiré Davids

Born 1969 in Paarl/South Africa.

Desiré Davids graduated with a teacher’s diploma in Dance in 1990 and  a perfomer’s certificate in 1991 from the University of Cape Town Ballet School, Cape Town/South Africa. From 1992–1998 she worked for two important South African Dance Companies, Napac Dance Company (today The Playhouse Dance Company), Durban/South Africa and the State Theatre Dance Company. In 1997 she was a founding member of  Boyzie Cekwana’s Floating Outfit Project, where she still works as a dancer, administrator and choreographer until today.

Her latest projects include WHO IS THIS … Beneath my skin? (2010), a collaboration with the french photographer Pascale Béroujon; COLOURED/Chameleon/Dance (2012), a 30 minute work based on a 1986 South African newspaper article 1985 had at least 1000 »chameleons«,  dealing with the so called “Coloured” community in post apartheid South Africa and B.L.E.N.D (2013), a collaborative project with choreographer Hélène Cathala from Montpellier/France.

Désiré received numerous awards, such as in 1999 the award »Most Outstanding Female Performer« for her performance in Rona which won the 1st prize at the 3rd International African and Indian Ocean Choreography Competition in Madagascar. In 2011 she was awarded a 7 week »résidence de formation et creation« at the Centre National de la Danse, Pantin/France for 2012 as part of the collaboration with  Théâtres départementaux de La Réunion.

Desiré Davids is a fellow in the special program Africa in Solitude at Akademie Schloss Solitude.