Style story
Wardrobe is just as important as the dance routines when it comes to the story being told on Tjovitjo.
Tjovitjo Season 1 Sundays (back from a break on 11 Feb) SABC1 (*191) 20:00
The mid-season finale of Tjovitjo (2017- current) ended in tragedy in November when Mandisa (Lali Dazangele) nearly died after an abortion. Her dad Bra Terror (Rapulana Seiphemo) turned on Ma’Tjovitjo dance leader MaFred (Warren Masemola) in fury for getting Mandisa pregnant and Terror banned all dance in town while lashing out, leading to violent clashes in the community. As the season re-starts on Sunday 11 February (set two months after the mid-season finale), there is an air of desperation. “Without giving too much away, it’s almost like a warzone,” explains Tjovitjo’s head of wardrobe Sheli Masondo. “People are in hiding in whatever piece of clothing they have. For example, someone grabbed a bathrobe off the line while they were running and because they are in hiding, they will take the bathrobe and make it part of their look. And they will carry that look throughout the season. Many of the wardrobe elements that you see in the second half are incidental elements, like you’d find in a warstricken Tjovitjo location,” adds Sheli.
A TOUCH OF CLASS
The shake-up in style reflects the disruption in the dancers’ lives. Normally style, like, dance, is an outlet for artistic expression. “They are very different in terms of where they come from and what their art is – because they are all artists. So even if they have clothes that you could just buy, they ‘work’ the garment,” says Sheli. “If they like painting on clothes or they like ripping to create a different look, they change the item to complement their body. Like tearing an old T-shirt in a certain way. We have a character who wears work overalls – like a miner’s overalls – but he’s made that his look. He ironed them properly to give them a beautiful crease. Even if they’re old, they have flair!”
MAFRED’S THREADS
Nobody has more flair in Tjovitjo than MaFred, whose everyday outfit tells a fascinating story. “It’s a look where his pants were bought five or seven years ago and they were cut short so they didn’t drag on the ground. He has outgrown them but he carries it with so much pride that you just fall in love with the look. The waistcoat thing is that he can’t afford a full- on suit, so he just has the waistcoat. That is part of his European look that he hangs onto. His ambition is to actually grow out of that environment and become as elegant as someone on the red carpet or on TV, that’s why he hangs onto it,” says Sheli. And it’s crowned with a beret that has its own story. “Warren and I talked about how the uncles in the township who wear a beret were the jazz men, the most elegant elders who were looked up to. This look is from those who have travelled overseas. And the beret is not just any beret; it’s the lined one that’s only bought at certain gent’s shops. That was the piece that Warren added to the look,” reveals Sheli.
WEARING TRADITION
Finally, we couldn’t talk about Tjovitjo without discussing its Pantsula outfits. Sheli went the full traditional route when sourcing them. “It’s part of who I am, where I grew up [in Zola, Soweto]. At family gatherings, we’d have all different stages and levels of different types of Pantsulas, from the street Pantsula to the elegant Pantsula to the Pantsula who came on a train and had money,” reveals Sheli. “I sourced a lot from the original Pantsula shops in Jeppestown, Johannesburg that have been there since the 1960s. Places like City Outfitters and City Hall. The things are still authentic, with suits imported from the UK. Pantsulas are very loyal, so they actually know where to go. Pantsula style is very close to home and very close to heart,” she says.