Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! is an Annual Parade of Play Returning to the Streets of Hillbrow this August

Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! is a beloved children’s parade returning for its seventh iteration on 8 August 2026, just a Day before Women’s Day. The parade is presented by The Windybrow Arts Centre and Shade, in collaboration with organisations and artists from Johannesburg and beyond.

Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! | What's on in Joburg

Creative street fun inspired by winged creatures

This year’s Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! procession is very special, taking place on the eve of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the 9 August 1956 Women’s March. The theme this year is ‘ARISE’, taking to the skies to make a declaration against the cage and in celebration of freedom.

Working with more than 350 children and young people from Hillbrow and beyond, Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! gathers handmade bird costumes, bird dances, birdsongs and street-scale imagination into a living flock. These birds are border-crossers, message-carriers, mischief-makers and freedom-dreamers. They migrate across walls, neighbours, languages, histories and streets.

Gerard Bester, The Market Theatre Foundation’s Head of The Windybrow Arts Centre, shares that the Grey Go-away-bird known as the Lourie – whose sharp call warns the bushveld when danger is near – is the inspiration behind the 2026 public procession – transforming alarm into art, warning into wonder and rebellion into play.

As hundreds of participants from local youth organisations – Dlala Nje, Shade, Dlamini Foundation, Johannesburg Society for the Blind, Innovation of Excellence, Lefika La Phodiso, Fight with Insight, MES and The Windybrow Arts Centre – flock to the streets of inner-city Joburg in birdlike freedom, they’ll also be paying tribute to the unbeatable spirit of the women of 1956, who marched against pass laws as cages to reclaim their freedom of movement.

Come glide, fly and flutter with celebration in the streets and in the skies.

The journey to Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala!

In the lead up to the parade, The Windybrow Arts Centre has turned into a creative makerspace for all the participants. This two-week multi-disciplinary, artist residency/holiday programme ranges from Textile Design to Choral Works, Physical Theatre, Street Art, Site Specific Theatre, Parade Direction. The sonic library made in collaboration with the participants informs the soundscapes curated by Jarred Parenzee and Muhammed Dawjee.

The programme also invites youth and children to shadow these artists and production teams, to co-design the works and foster intergenerational collaboration.

The history behind the parade

Hey Hillbrow! Let’s Dlala! launched in 2017 in celebration of the possibilities that public performance brings to public space; to share energy, laughter, surprise and play. This day was inspired by the life of Joburg public art super-heroine Lesley Perkes who died in 2015 and who had dreams for this place that others have continued to manifest.

The parade would not be possible without the generous support from Ekhaya CID, Badboys Security, Hillbrow Police, Assitej South Africa, Joburg Photowalkers, Craig Maarschalk, City of Johannesburg, Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, BirdLife South Africa and our media partner, Johannesburg in Your Pocket.