Helping to give country’s dance talent fresh hope
TOO many people are leaving South Africa when they should instead be investing in it – a problem that even aspiring dancers face.
That’s one of the topics the Jozi Youth Dance Company will grapple with from tomorrow until Sunday in their annual dance production at the Roodepoort theatre, said Jayd Swart, the group’s director. Choix (choice in French) is the company’s first double-bill season, with shows running about 80 minutes each.
The first features an African take on Coppélia, the wellknown ballet about a young man who becomes infatuated with a life-sized mechanical doll, and deals with themes of forbidden love, race and culture.
The other showcases a variety of dances, including contemporary, Afro-fusion, jazz and ballet. It grapples with issues of female abuse, inhumanity and the need to invest in the country.
“Everything is so now, which I think is refreshing,” Swart said. “All our topics and discussions are about things that are affecting our country and our world at the moment.”
The production will bring about 70 performers – ranging from 6 to 26 years old – from the company and an academy that Swart also runs.
“They don’t look like children on the stage,” she said. “They dance with the maturity of adults. I think that’s what keeps audiences coming back.”
Swart fell in love with training dancers and choreographing after a 2013 anterior cruciate ligament injury forced her to stop dancing. It wasn’t easy for the now 25-year-old who started dancing at the age of three, but that experience caused her to change direction.
She started the company in late 2014, recognising a gap in the market to provide aspiring young dancers with a professional outlet. The dance group has since grown, she said, with students from “all walks of life” – townships, Northcliff, Sandton, Nigel and Pretoria
Since February last year, the best dancers compete internationally and have gone to Bulgaria, South Korea and the US. Swart said the ability to compete – and do well – on an international stage challenges her students to push harder.
“If you open your eyes to what’s out there, you learn so much more,” she said.
“South Africa is amazing but learning from other countries is like sharing knowledge,” Swart added.
She said South African ballet was an incredible art but the lack of funding made it difficult for dancers to make a living in the country.
She felt heartbroken when dancers told her that they could not make a career in dance unless they left the country, she said.
But she said: “If more people invest in dancers the way I do and expose them to more, this country’s dancing is going to take off.
“That’s what I’m after,” she added.
Although Swart said she could start training again as a dancer, she realised that training and choreographing, which allowed her to express herself, was what she was meant to do.
It was a decision that she had not turned back from, and one that was not likely to change in the near future.
“I love burgers now,” she quipped.
‘If you open your eyes, you learn so much more’