Dancing towards her dream
SOUTH African dancer Londiwe Khoza is one of seven talented young artists from around the world to participate in the 2016-2017 Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative.
The Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative is a philanthropic programme that was created in 2002 to make a contribution to global culture. It seeks out gifted young artists from around the world and brings them together with artistic masters for a year of creative collaboration in a one-to-one mentoring relationship.
A step closer to building her dream, Khoza, 23, said, “This opportunity will not only help me develop personally as an artist, but it will give me the tools needed to step into the world. I want to be the kind of dancer who can do everything and has the ability to say everything with her body.”
Khoza was selected in the dance category by Israeli mentor Ohad Naharin, her Artistic Director of the renowned Batsheva Dance Company of Tel Aviv. “It was very interesting for me to open up Londiwe’s imagination and her physicality to many new possibilities without cancelling what she had done in the past. Rather, I wanted to include what she did, but to really give her a much larger range. And because she is talented, curious and loves to dance, I knew that we would be able to do that in a short time, a year,” said Naharin.
Khoza’s passion for dance sprouted at five when she began taking lessons where her natural talent was identified by the teachers who tutored her in classical ballet, Classical Greek dance and modern dance. In 2006, Khoza obtained a 100% dance scholarship to attend Reddam House Atlantic Seaboard where she completed her matric. Describing the impact she hopes to make, Khoza said she wanted to be the kind of artist who changes people’s lives.
“Whether I can inspire, motivate, be a role model or bring joy; I want to know that I at least changed one person’s life. That I influenced, or made a difference, made a mark and can add to the art, rather than just be another face in the dance industry. In a few years I want to be able to create novels with bodies,” she said.
It is never an easy task becoming a professional dancer in South Africa but Khoza achieved her dream by working relentlessly and never giving up. According to the Cape Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA), Khoza joined CAPA on a full scholarship and after completing her matric she entered the full-time course in 2012.
During her studies at CAPA, Khoza had the opportunity to be an apprentice at the Cape Dance Company where she got to work with both national and international choreographers which offered her a diverse stylistic skills. After graduating with distinction in 2014, she took up a five month scholarship in London at the Central School of Ballet in order for her to further develop her talents. The finalists were selected by independent, anonymous nominating panels of influential artists and arts professionals who, after a rigorous global search, tap into their network of contacts and propose potential protégés who could benefit most from the programme.
Application is by invitation only. Each protégé will receive 25 000 Swiss francs (about R341 000) to support his or her participation in the programme, with a further 25 000 Swiss francs available to create a new work at the conclusion of the mentoring year.
Mentors are asked to spend up to six weeks with their protégés over the 12 months but the pairs are free to interact in whichever way suits them best.
Khoza is making something out of her year as a protegee in the Rolex programme and is flourishing in Israel. She is also pursuing personal goals by starring in every one of the company’s performances this season.
These include four works: DecaDance, Kamuyot, Virus and Mamootot.
The possibilities are endless for Khoza, who will begin a new contract with the Batsheva YoungEnsemble in August 2017. “Hopefully that will be the beginning of many wonderful things,” she says.
Encouraging other artists to pursue their passions, Khoza said, “Never lose your passion, your identity, your groove; because that’s what makes you unique. It’s hard to hold on to all of that at times, without your passion and your identity, you’re just doing steps.”