“Moya” explores and celebrates South Africa's unique heritage in a multi-colored acrobatic show, illustrating Nelson Mandela's dream of a rainbow nation made up of 11 languages and cultures able to unite harmoniously in peaceful coexistence. 

“Moya” is a Zulu term - one of South Africa's languages - meaning Spirit, Air, Soul and Wind. It's what makes a person unique, their propensity to project and build themselves. “Moya” is therefore a sacred asset, the wealth of each individual, a life force capable of creating wonders, fulfilling desires and bringing out the best in people. This term is closely linked to the concept of “Ubuntu”, humanity in isiXhosa - another South African language - which holds that the life of others is at least as important as one's own, a maxim on which the entire philosophy of the Zip Zap social circus school is based. 

Established in Cape Town 30 years ago, this school uses the circus arts as a lever for the self-fulfilment and emancipation of South Africa's youth, prey to precariousness and violence. Today, there are 3,000 direct beneficiaries, many of whom live in shantytowns, have experienced life on the streets, and are confronted with obstacles to their personal development. The show features ten young graduate artists, telling their individual stories and echoing the fate of the entire nation, in a world that is therefore familiar to them and sometimes painful, to conclude with the triumph of human will over adversity, a metaphor for Zip Zap's work. 

The show uses an impressive array of circus techniques (aerial straps, cyr wheel, juggling, bouncing balls, fabric, banquine, trapeze, lifts, balancing) to reveal the characters and tell of their desires for escape, encounter, fulfillment and brotherhood, as well as many styles of dance, from “Pantsula” to acro-dance, via “Gum Boots”, a cultural phenomenon born in the mines of South Africa, when exhausted workers danced to these rhythms in their rubber boots to relax after many grueling hours underground. 

“Moya” is a colorful celebration of South Africa's diversity, it's the tangible spirit and energy of Africa that lives in its people, it's the golden thread that binds together a tapestry of cultures. 

Prior to this stage version, “Moya” was an acrobatic film made in the midst of the pandemic, choreographed, directed, filmed and edited by Sabine van Rensburg and Brin Schoellkopf, which won numerous awards.