Zola Ncube

Director in Training

Fora: Network For Change’s Girls on Board Young Director

Nokuzola (Zola) Ncube is a Canada Graduate Scholar who can be described as a creative
and an academic. As a creative, Zola started training in hip-hop, ballet, jazz, lyrical, and break
dancing when she was 12 years old. During her teen years, Zola trained and performed at the
London Fringe Festival with Breath in Mvmt, a London-based contemporary movement
company. As a choreographer and dancer with the Dynamic Dozen, Zola worked to bring dance
training to under-resourced communities in London, Ontario. Following this, Zola continued to
train and compete until she graduated in 2015. In 2016, she began teaching hip-hop at Elan
Dance Arts where she currently teaches and choreographs for dancers ages 6-65. Recently, Zola
moved to Zimbabwe where she worked with Hothaus Zimbabwe, an organisation that is using art
(dance, music, and theatre) as a tool for community development. She also recently released
Jelimana, a short film that was selected by the International World Film Awards. While in
Zimbabwe, Zola was invited to represent Bulawayo’s creative industries as part of the SDG 7
Key Consultations and invited to speak on a panel as part of the Bulawayo Arts Festival.
Zola believes that art has the capacity to connect people of all backgrounds and is
passionate about bringing formal dance training to underrepresented communities. In addition to
choreographing for the London Dance Festival, Zola has returned to ballet and pointe training
and dances professionally with La Compagnie de Danse in London, Ontario, Canada.
Zola is an MSc. Health Sciences student at Western University whose thesis focuses on
intimate partner violence and health services during COVID-19. Zola’s superpower is
interdisciplinary collaboration. She has applied her academic skills to advocate for truth,
empathy, and human rights in her experiences with Daughters of The Vote in Ottawa, Plan
International Canada, Education for Better Living in Tanzania, the United Nations Youth
Assembly in New York, The mEducation Alliance, and the Resolution Project.
In the future, Zola hopes to combine her identity as a creative and an academic to ensure
equitable access to formal training in the arts in Canada and beyond.