Dactivo José Combane

Mozambique

Dactivo José Combane was born in Mozambique in 1976. He grew up with a keen interest in theatre, dance and music. As Mozambique did not offer any arts courses at university level until 2008, however, Dactivo ended up pursuing an Honours in history and geography education.

From 2005, Dactivo taught history and geography at high school level. In 2008, Eduardo Mondlane University started teaching theatre courses and invited Dactivo to lecture in Mozambican and African theatre history and body movements. For 17 years now, Dactivo has been involved in various activities, providing training, consultancy and community education through dramatic arts. He is also a specialist in cultural management and events production.

His artistic abilities include playwriting, directing, choreography, dancing, and acting, and these have enabled him to participate in various national and international arts festivals. Recently, he participated in several events, talking about the importance of applied theatre in Mozambican society, and acted in the BIG5 festival in Holland following an invitation from de Appel theatre company. He wrote, directed and performed in Not Enough to be Arrested, which will also be performed during the 2010 DFL Festival.

After graduating from the Drama for Life Programme, Dactivo was appointed as a lecturer at Eduardo Mondlane University (in African and Mozambican theatre history, applied theatre and movement). He is also working on introducing applied drama as a specialisation at the same institution.