I met Alfred Hinkel in late 1994.
He had already been developing the Cape Town-based Jazzart Dance Theatre into South Africa’s premier performing arts training and performance institution since 1986, a journey that led to the founding of Phenduka and Siwela Sonke in Durban.
But his dance leadership experience began a decade earlier, with his first company – Die Namakwalandse Dans Geselskap – based in the small towns of Nababeep and Okiep in the Northern Cape. It was there that his working relationship with John Linden and the late Dawn Langdown began.
As a rookie arts journalist with little exposure beyond ballet and ballroom dancing, I was in awe. I still am.
Shaping South African Contemporary Dance
A recipient of the Arts & Culture Trust (ACT) Lifetime Achievement Award for Dance, among many other accolades, Alfred is best known as a dance educator with a gift for developing raw talent and pushing creative boundaries.
His approach to contemporary dance, influenced by the Alexander Technique, which views the mind, body and emotions as intrinsically connected, made a lasting impression. By training African bodies to be technically proficient while releasing tension and expressing emotion, his goal is to prepare dancers to perform in a way that allows audiences to truly connect with them.
“If I can get the dancers to experience the shift, their audience will feel it too. Their duty is not to affirm but challenge.”
After departing Jazzart in 2010, Alfred and John returned to Okiep and started again. The former copper mining district still labours under the legacy of British colonialism, where many indigenous communities suffer the long-term effects of poverty and systemic neglect. Determined to continue using the arts as a tool for social change and self-expression, they founded Garage Dance Ensemble (Garage) in 2011.
Garage Dance Ensemble: Dance Rooted in Place
The company has since carved out a unique space in the world of contemporary dance, fusing raw experience, personal history, and place-based identity into its work. Firmly rooted in the lived realities of Coloured communities in South Africa, their performances challenge assumptions — both locally and abroad — about who they are and where they come from.
The resulting archive serves as proof of their ability to showcase artistic innovation, restore pride in communities, reconnect individuals with their cultural roots, encourage critical thinking, strengthen communication skills, and instil discipline.
A New Chapter: Byron Klassen Steps Forward
Enter Byron Klassen, a founding member of Garage and its newly appointed artistic director.
John, at 69, remains active as executive director, while Alfred (72) describes himself simply as a fundraiser. “This story is about Byron,” Alfred says emphatically — but a brief recap is necessary.
Byron, who trained in Cape Town and New York, was mentored by both John and Alfred and shares their innate ability to create impactful, socially engaged work. In 2023, he received the ACT Impact Award for his artistry and community development.
His appointment as artistic director in 2025 cements his role as both creative force and cultural leader. “I want the people of Okiep to be able to say: ‘Those are our people,’” he says.
Byron’s acclaimed works include I Don’t, I Can’t, I Won’t, Elk Een, and Gat Innie Grond, Wond in My Siel.
Gat: From Stage to Screen to Curriculum
In 2019, academic Janine Lange approached Garage Dance Ensemble to collaborate on a work of performance art as part of her thesis, which explored storytelling and memories of structural violence in the Northern Cape.
After nearly a year of research into the effects of copper mining on both the land and its people, many of them relatives of the Garage dancers, the project was set to tour the Nama-Khoi region.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and plans changed.
Instead of a live stage production, the team created a film. Though Byron had no filmmaking experience, the result was a powerful, resonant work that deeply moved local audiences with its emotional intensity and artistic excellence, and went on to earn national acclaim.
Gat was filmed and edited by Ruth Smith, screened on township walls throughout the Nama-Khoi district and featured on platforms like Woordfees TV and the JOMBA! Digital Festival.
The film also found a place in academia, used as a teaching tool by the Durban University of Technology for three consecutive years.
A Global Stage Beckons
Garage Dance Ensemble’s international trajectory continues to gain momentum — from Krummelpap in the United States (2023) to Fables from the Earth that Stood Still at the Louvre Abu Dhabi (2025).
European tours of Robyn Orlin’s How in Salt’s Desert is it Possible to Blossom? began in 2024, with performances at the CRIÉE Theatre in Marseille, the 45th Montpellier Danse Festival in France, the Romaeuropa Festival in Rome, and venues in Amsterdam, Paris, and Reims.
The third tour of the piece premieres in Germany at the Ruhrtriennale on 21 August 2025. A fourth tour returns to France in November and December 2025, with further performances planned for 2026.
Collaboration with Robyn Orlin
Robyn Orlin (70) is one of South Africa’s most provocative and internationally acclaimed choreographers. Known for her politically charged, chaotic, and deeply physical style, she challenges conventions in both classical and contemporary dance.
Based in Berlin for the past 25 years, Robyn can open doors for international opportunities that support fundraising, expand the company’s reach, and, as she puts it, help Garage “substantiate itself into being more than what it is, what it can be.”
Garage’s recent tours have sparked strong interest in the United States, where audiences are often unfamiliar with the nuances of Coloured identity in South Africa. Although performances were initially translated or subtitled, it quickly became clear that language was secondary – the emotional intensity and physical honesty transcended words.
Movement as Declaration
For Garage, identity isn’t something to be explained. It’s embodied. “We’re tired of explaining colouredness. Every time you have to start from scratch, as if who you are isn’t enough. We’d rather celebrate who we are — on our terms,” says Byron.
That celebration shapes their work, which reflects a layered identity marked by dialect, skin tone, and lived experience. Their Afrikaans, shaped by place and upbringing, diverges from the standard form, yet remains unmistakably theirs. “We don’t dance for sympathy,” says Byron. “We dance out of pride. It’s not an explanation — it’s a declaration.”
That was their response to Robyn’s question about what they wanted to create work about. It wasn’t simply about race or history. The resulting piece explores the region’s legacy of violence and oppression, but it is also infused with the humour and humility typical of the people of Okiep — a town also known for its Namaqualand daisies. Picture a flower field blooming in the desert —that’s the unexpected beauty of this place.
Robyn adds: “I used to watch Byron or one of the others teach the teenagers who came after rehearsals when I worked with them on ‘Salt’. They’re so down to earth. It’s something about that area. Okiep people have the capacity to laugh. They have human insight and humour.”
Collaborating with five dancers from Garage and two musicians from Band uKhoiKhoi, Robyn blends fact and fiction to deliver a powerful message: everyone has the right to blossom.
“Alfred and John have taught (the dancers) to be open and curious, and they’ve nurtured that. They are all special in their own right. And smart. They’re unpretentious, very humble, and they love doing what they do. And they know how they want to be within this profession. A lot of dancers don’t know that,” she says.
Storytelling Through Embodied Experience
Collaboration plays a key role in Garage’s creative evolution. International partnerships, such as the one with Robyn have enabled Garage to explore new methodologies while staying true to its core: storytelling through embodied experience. Their dancers don’t perform in the traditional sense — they inhabit their movements, expressing personal and collective histories in real time.
“In our training, we strip away the artifice so common in dance forms like classical ballet or Bharatanatyam. The goal is authenticity — when our dancers step on stage, they’re not performing to an audience, they’re communicating with it. We train the whole being — body, mind, and spirit — so they learn to inhabit their bodies fully and speak through movement,” says Alfred.
Rooted in Community
Community engagement is central to Garage’s process. Rather than separating art from its environment, Garage invites the community in – from helping clean the stage area to acting in the performance. Gat, which evolved from their earlier pandemic-era film, emerged from these interactions, exploring local struggles, pride, and memory.
“Of all the thousands of students I’ve worked with, Byron and Jaime (Jaime-Lee Hine) are the two who truly understand what we’re about. They don’t just follow the philosophy – they build on it. Byron, in particular, is a stickler for detail, especially when it comes to gestural work. Every movement must carry meaning and purpose,” says Alfred.
Though much of Garage’s work is created for and showcased in the Northern Cape, the company occasionally takes to the national stage, with upcoming performances of Gat at the Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees (11–19 October 2025) and Suidoosterfees (2026).
When the ensemble tours abroad, Okiep follows their journey closely. Garage’s work is more than art — it is survival, healing, and representation. Drawing from Nama and Coloured heritage, their language of movement is deeply personal, yet universally resonant.
Where to See Garage Dance Ensemble Live
South Africa
- 11–12 October: Toyota Stellenbosch Woordfees
Germany
- 21 August 2025: Ruhrtriennale
France
- 13-14 November: Théâtre du Bois de l’Aune, Aix-en-Provence
- 18-19 November: POLE SUD, Strasbourg
- 21 November: Le Rive Gauche, Saint Étienne-du-Rouvray
- 25 November: Maison de la Culture de Bourges
- 29 November: Le Théâtre de Grasse, Festival de Danse Cannes – Côte d’Azur
- 2 December: Le Théâtre, Scène Nationale de Saint-Nazaire
- 9-13 December: Théâtre National de Bretagne (TNB), Rennes
