Pumelela Nqelenga

Pumelela ‘Push’ Nqelenga  graduated from the university that is currently known as Rhodes University in Makhanda, Eastern Cape 2015. She graduated with a Masters in Drama (Contemporary Performance) with Distinction. Her other qualifications include an Honours Degree in Drama majoring in Physical Theatre, Applied Theatre and Contemporary Theatre and a Bachelor of Journalism and Media Studies majoring in Television and New Media.

Nqelenga has a deep interest in Contemporary Nguni Performance, Site-Specific Performance and the role of the Black Female Body in Performance. She has created lecture series both at Rhodes University and the University Of KwaZulu Natal on the use of Oral Poetry in South African Contemporary Theatre and the Black Female Body in Performance.

Ms Nqelenga is an interdisciplinary practioner who has been performing since 2008 in productions ranging from professional work that has been performed in award winning productions in festivals around the country and the globe. Moreover, Nqelenga has directed, choreographed and curated student works at UKZN Pietermaritzburg and recently curated a Site-Specific performance of Return to My Native by Aimé Césaire for the Decoloniality Summer School at UKZN Howard 2020. In the same year, Ms Nqelenga was appointed as the Acting Director of the Hexagon Theatre. 

Ms Nqelenga is a lecturer at the Centre for Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies at the University of Cape Town.