The social soul of architecture: a place for dance born from the urban ethos of western Johannesburg

• Main Author: Van Jaarsveldt, Debra
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10539/8299

The people of western Johannesburg, specifically in the areas previously known as the ‘western areas’, love and live to dance. In these areas dance has a pertinent and revealing historical, spatial and social dimension. This thesis will critically discuss this dimension of dance, revealing that the urban scars of Apartheid still limit this social and physical activity. Explorations on the spaces used for dance in the area will reveal a contrast between architectural inadequacies and the important role dance plays the lives of these people. The proposed intervention emerges directly from this manifestation of research - where dance is a recreational activity inseparable from music that can bring people from all corners of the area together onto one floor. Where the local passion for dance, is no longer undermined and where a sense of community can be seen and encouraged through a place for dance.