Alexandra is where architect and DJ Thelma Ndebele AKA DORMANTYOUTH will construct the final Night Embassy Joburg residency by Jägermeister. Groove Biennale: The Ante Experience happens from the 8th to the 10th of July 2022 at Twin Park 71 11th Road, Bramley. There is free registration on Webtickets to Groove Biennale featuring amapiano queen Pabi Cooper; a ballroom dance off co-hosted with Vogue Nights Jozi and the city’s top DJs Lelowhatsgood, Pona, NODIGGITY, Danger Ingozi, Phatstoki, Rose Bonica and The Fly Machine Sessions, amongst others.
Groove Biennale is the fourth and final Night Embassy residency that has seen the other three ambassadors, Unmuted, Other Village People and Kombonation creating bold new nightlife experiences at iconic spaces in Jozi and Soweto, with the support of Jägermeister. Now it’s DORMANTYOUTH’s turn to make their mark, with a nocturnal pavilion that will host music performances and exhibitions, as well as celebrate queer communities.
Thelma Ndebele is a non-binary Master of Architecture whose interest lies in music as an alternative translation of place and archive of lived space. Their role as DORMANTYOUTH allows them to shape interactions between body and space via music, providing an eye-opening lens on how sound can affect the relationship between architecture and art, as well as the individual and collective.
When DJing, DORMANTYOUTH gravitates towards electronically produced bass music, especially sounds that boom from underground scenes in musically undiscovered parts of the world. DJing at identity specific and femme focussed events such as Vogue Nights Jozi and Pussy Party has become a method of research, providing access to the unique landscape of contemporary Johannesburg nightlife.
The Groove Biennale is a curated series of underground parties branded as ‘The Ante Experience’. Nested inside an architectural shell meant for large scale contemporary exhibitions (Biennale), the Ante Performa, Ante Kiki and the Ante Rave will bring the fresh alternative electronic music and performances that Joburg locals and its honorary citizens have to offer,” says DORMANTYOUTH. “The Ante Experience is a play on words, marrying the alt/anti aesthetic with the architectural term ante, which describes a room/space preceding a main hall. Snapshot interactions of the party during each event will be recorded and redisplayed as hologram projections integrated into the structure of the main pavilion structure.”