Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Dancing with paws for a cause
MANY of Cape Town’s dance and animal lovers will come together tonight in a once-a-year fund-raiser for the sterilisation of dogs across the peninsula.
Dancers Love Dogs is a show by the most exceptional dancers and companies in the Western Cape with some guest acts from across the country.
Each ticket costs R300 and covers the cost of one sterilisation.
The event was founded in 2011 and directed by Brigitte Reeve-Taylor, who has run her own studio for several years as well as choreographed internationally.
She decided to call on dancers to help raise funds and awareness to reduce the number of sick and starving stray dogs in Cape Town.
The initiative has raised as much as R3 million and helped sterilise 12 786 animals – an impressive feat considering nearly all of the funding comes from one show each year.
Dancers Love Dogs was a true team effort by the dance and theatre community, Reeve-Taylor said.
“All the dancers donate their (performances) to our show, Artscape gives us the theatre, Computicket don’t charge us commission, so our costs are zero,” she added.
“I’ve learnt that if you’re an NPO and when people trust you, there’s no limit to the amount people will support.”
Instead of working through animal welfare organisations, Dancers Love
Dogs directly funds the veterinarians who do the sterilisations. The vets will travel to a location with a team and equipment and do a mass sterilisation of up to 300 animals in one visit.
They charge discounted rates for welfare purposes.
“They all give us good welfare rates. A normal sterilisation would be about R1 900 and we pay about R350,” Reeve-Taylor said.
She aims to assist animals in rural towns outside the Cape metropole.
“Next year, what I’d really like to do is to reach out to more rural sterilisations – get into the heart of where there’s not a vet around for 200km.”
Reeve-Taylor has organised a star-studded cast for tonight’s show, with comedian Alan Committie as emcee.
“Alan is just a gift to us because the audience lap him up,” she said. “We’ve got a fantastic cast, with a lot of variety. We’ve got beautiful dance companies on board. The dancers get very connected to this cause as well. They’re looking so amazing.”
Dancer and international award-winning choreographer Hope Maimane are set to perform tonight. So, too, are former Cape Town City Ballet principals Laura Bosenberg and Thomas Thorne.
Internationally renowned choreographer and dancer Rudi Smit, who shot to YouTube stardom with his video Me Too, will also perform with his company Untimitive, fresh off four first-placed finishes at the DanceStar World Championships in Croatia.
A highlight of the show every year are the dogs who take to the stage and perform trick routines, jumping through hoops and riding skateboards and doing their best to outshine the professional dancers.
“Some people don’t even care that much about the dancing, they’re there for the dogs,” Reeve-Taylor said.
Tickets for tonight’s show are available through Computicket. If they’re sold out, you can still support the cause by visiting the Dancers Love Dogs
Facebook page or website for more information on donations.