Dancers will take to centre stage at Guild contest
DANCERS from around Buffalo City Metro (BCM) will get an opportunity to showcase their skills next week Saturday when the Dance to the Beat: Vela Sikubone competition takes place at the Guild Theatre.
The dance competition, organised by dancers Lwazi Menemene and Simphiwe Mba, will see all styles of dancers coming together to share and learn from each other.
With the backing of Eastern Cape Provincial Arts and Culture Council, the two hope to revive the spirit of dance in the city and also promote various dance moves. Judges for the competition will include dancers Junior King Ferreira and East London dancer Siya ‘B-Teck’ Baduza.
Menemene, who started out as a krumper, an acronym for Kingdom Radically Uplifted Mighty Praise (krump), said there were not enough dance competitions to keep dancers motivated, and they hoped to revive the spirit of dance in the city.
In 2012, Menemene took part in the Masters of Rhythm national dance competition in Johannesburg. Through the competition he got to meet krump founder Ceasare “Tight Eyes” Willis, who made a guest appearance along with dancer Kevin “Jr Tight Eyes” Davis.
Judge Baduza said they are looking for originality, stage presence and technical difficulty in the movements, among many other things.
Baduza has hosted a number of dance workshops for local dancers. “The last workshop we had was in 2016, and I have been travelling a lot lately, taking part in national dance competitions,” he said.
Menemene said they had plans to have a dance festival during the Berlin November annual horse-racing event. “We spoke with the organiser last year and he had given us the go ahead but we had no funding. This year we are confident we will be able to pull it off,” he said.
Dancers who want to take part can contact Menemene on 074-446-7078 or Mba on 078-411-3650. —