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Zaza
Cala
Biography
Zakheni “Zaza” Cala is a multidisciplinary South African performer, choreographer,
and arts educator based in Pretoria, originally from Mahikeng in the North West. Her
work is rooted in storytelling, ritual, and embodied cultural memory, exploring themes
of gender, identity, ancestry, and healing through dance and theatre. She holds a
National Diploma in Performing Arts (Dance), a Postgraduate Diploma in Performing
Arts (Choreography), and a Postgraduate Certificate in Education (Dramatic Arts), all
from Tshwane University of Technology. Her diverse training informs an
interdisciplinary practice that combines technical excellence with socially engaged
performance.
Zaza has performed at leading South African venues, including the South African
State Theatre, Soweto Theatre, Market Theatre, Breytenbach Theatre, and The
Centre for the Less Good Idea. She has collaborated with renowned artists such as
Professor Janine Lewis, David April, Lulu Mlangeni, Vusi Africa, Teresa Phuti Mojela,
Bailey Snyman, Mdu Nhlapo, Thami Majela, and Dr Nicole Haskins, shaping her
distinctive movement vocabulary and performance style. In 2024, she received both
the Naledi Theatre Award and the Tembisa Theatre Award for Best Supporting
Actress, recognising her growing contribution to South African performing arts
NTLHOMOLE TSHETLHO
Performance: NTLHOMOLE TSHETLHO (remove a thorn from me)
Ntlhomole Tshetlho draws on the symbolism of the devil's thorn, representing the
painful social conditioning of toxic masculinity that must be removed before healing
and reconciliation can begin.
Ntlhomole Tshetlho is an interdisciplinary performance combining acting and dance to
explore healing, trauma, and reconciliation through the lens of gender-based violence
(GBV). Rather than depicting violence itself, the work examines the emotional journey
of a young man before violence emerges. Naturally gentle, empathetic, and
emotionally sensitive, he is raised within a culture of toxic masculinity that teaches him
to suppress vulnerability and equate manhood with emotional control. As he grows,
he struggles to reconcile his authentic self with society's expectations. His inability to
understand women's emotional experiences, coupled with his expectation that they
should respond to his logic, leads to increasing frustration and emotional instability.
The performance does not justify violence but investigates how unresolved trauma,
rigid gender norms, and emotional illiteracy can become precursors to it.
The narrative centres on a transformative conversation between the young man and
an older woman, who guides him towards self-awareness, empathy, and emotional
healing. Through dialogue and embodied movement, the performance symbolically
removes the "thorn" of harmful masculine conditioning, allowing him to reconnect with
his compassionate identity and develop a deeper understanding of emotional
difference.
The work responds to the ongoing GBV crisis. The World Health Organization (2021)
estimates that nearly one in three women globally experience physical and/or sexual
violence during their lifetime, while research links rigid masculine norms with increased
aggression and poorer emotional wellbeing among men (Jewkes, Flood & Lang, 2015;
Heilman, Barker & Harrison, 2017). By positioning performance as a space for
reflection and healing, Ntlhomole Tshetlho invites audiences to rethink masculinity,
emotional vulnerability, and reconciliation as essential pathways to preventing
violence.
Keywords: Toxic Masculinity; Emotional Regulation; Healing;
Reconciliation