#Johannesburg

Every now and then, the Joburg Ballet hosts open rehearsal days at its studio in Braamfontein. I went once before in 2013, soon after the Joburg Ballet was started, and although I knew nothing about ballet I was enthralled by both the dancing and the rehearsal space.

In February 2012 I went on a tour of Art Deco architecture in the East Rand, organized by the Joburg Photowalkers. I have fond memories of that tour – I loved getting to know this far-flung part of Joburg that I had never visited before. The East Rand was quirky and weird and I liked it. (Read my post about the 2012 tour.)

A few months ago, my friend Ang at JOZI.REDISCOVERED asked me to partner with her on a blogging project. It would be called #TheGodProject, and the two of us would go around Joburg exploring different places of worship. Ang would interview the various religious leaders and write about the services, and I would take photos.

Several weeks before that, when I was still living in Washington, Jon had emailed me some photos of a house for rent in Melville. From the few things I’d seen and read, I already knew that Melville was the Jozi suburb where I wanted to live. And the moment I saw these photos, I knew that this Melville house was the house I would move into.

This is a quick speed-blog to let you all know that the Mzansi Gallery, a quirky art gallery on 7th Street in Melville, is getting ready to close for several weeks while it transitions to a new space. Before closing its doors on Friday, Mzansi is doing a two-day mini exhibition of two art works, one of which is mine.

Last weekend I discovered a couple of new places in Cyrildene, Johannesburg’s “new” Chinatown. (Cyrildene is in Joburg’s eastern suburbs. The “old” Chinatown in downtown Joburg still exists, but most of the Chinese businesses moved to Cyrildene over the last two decades. Read more on old Chinatown vs. new Chinatown.)