Zama milestones

1999

• Zama graduate Ruth Mphulu accepted into the UCT Ballet School (now UCT School of Dance) for full-time training
• New custom-designed Zama Dance School studios opened by Minister of Water and Forestry Affairs, Kader Asmal

1997

• Andile Sotiya (21) receives scholarship from Rudolph Nureyev Foundation for Ballet Rambert dance school
• Mamela Nyamza (20) is the first South African woman to receive a scholarship for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre in New York

1993

• IGI Life Vita Award for Contemporary Choreography and Dance — most outstanding collaborative choreography and/or performance in work generated by a group for Glowing Embers at the 1992 Dance Umbrella in Johannesburg
• Zama Dance School received two nominations for Field of the Dead and six nominations for Glowing Embers including:
  • Contemporary Choreographer of the Year (Arlene Westergaard, Nandipha Gogela and Phumza Maqongo)
  • Most Promising Male Dancer in a Contemporary Style (Andile Sotiya)
  • Most Promising Female Dancer in a Contemporary Style (Nandipha Gogela and Phumza Maqongo)

1991

• Phumza Maqongo (17) nominated for Most Promising Dancer Award at the AA Life Vita Dance Umbrella
• John Simons joins Zama as part-time teacher. (He passed away in 2006 due to liver cancer.)

1989

• Zama Dance School Trust formed

1985

• First Grahamstown National Arts Festival performance
• 1st RAD exams — all students passed

Kader Asmal and Arlene Westergaard

John Simons and Zama dancers