I spent my entire childhood hiding from who I really was, even my family didn’t know... But now I can be who I truly am and my mama can be proud of what I have become.
Johannes Redabe broke down barriers when he became half of the first all-male partnership on BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing with John Waites. Now he has his own live show coming to Yorkshire inspired by his journey from a township in South Africa. Catherine
When professional dancer Johannes Redabe was asked by the BBC to partner John Waite in the first all-male pairing in Strictly Come Dancing he was apprehensive. Having grown up in South Africa where homophobia is commonplace and having suffered trolling after moving to the UK due to his sexuality, Redabe said he did have to think twice. “Then a friend of mine was killed back home in South Africa and the last thing they said to him was ‘you f **** t’ and that blew my mind. I thought people are being murdered for their sexuality you are gong to do this?”
But he could not have known the outpouring of support the two dancers would receive.
“When I danced with Graziano (Di Prima) a few years earlier people were up in arms. Two years later people are supporting a male partnership. I think a lot of that has to do with what we have been through. People on the whole are more accepting, at least I hope so.
“I cannot thank the BBC enough for creating the most diverse and inclusive series to date.”
Redabe and Waite were runners up in the final to winners actress Rose Ayling Ellis who is deaf and Govanni Pernice. They have just finished the Strictly Come Dancing Tour and now Redabe is headlining his own show Freedom, based on his journey growing up in a South African township through dance.
“It is a way of thanking all the people that have helped me in my journey. It is full of self expression, starting with my African roots, but don’t worry there will be plenty of fiery latin and elegant ballroom as well. This is me dancing to my own tune”
Redabe, 34, was born in Zamdela in South Africa and says he was bitten by the dancing bug at the age of seven.
“We lived in a very poor area but there was this amazing couple who would dress up and dance ballroom and Latin in the street and we would watch. I was mesmerised and new that I wanted to be like them. They said I could but I would have to come to practise which I did. I just fell in love with dance.”
He was then faced with a difficult decision. “We didn’t have the money to further my education, but I could dance, although it would mean leaving home and moving to Johannesburg. It was hard leaving my mum but it would give me the opportunity to earn some money that I could then send back to her. I told her I was going to make the dance thing work, Ididn’tknowhowbutI knew I would. I knew that I wouldn’t be able to provide for her in the township. “She said ‘go and if it doesn’t work out you can always come home’.” Redabe had his sights set on becoming a professional dancer, competing in international competitions and becoming a ‘champion’. But he hadn’t bargained on the Strictly Come Dancing factor.
“I’d been working on a cruise ship and working on my dancing. I must have been about 21.
“I was watching the South African version of Strictly Come Dancing with my mum on a visit back home and I said to her ‘I could do that’ and she said ‘they are on the TV, you aren’t – so shut up’. I remembered thinking that’s TV and I want to be a champion.”
But he kept one eye on the prize. “I really wanted to come to the UK and appear on the mothership
(as he refers to the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing) .I had seen that a lot of the professional dancers went on to have their own shows and that was what I wanted to do.
“But I also liked the fact that I was teaching and passing on my knowledge to others – it’s something I am passionate about.”
Then in 2018 he got the call he had been longing for and he says his “life changed forever” when he was asked to join the professional team on Strictly.
In his first season he wasn’t given a celebrity partner but the following year he partnered Catherine Tydesly followed by Caroline Quentin.
But it was the 2021 series when the BBC decided it was going to have an all-male partnership and he was partnered with Bake Off’s Waite that all eyes turned to Radebe.
“When I met John I just knew he was a beautiful person and we both said this isn’t about anyone’s sexuality it is about dance. And he worked so hard, I have made a friend for life.
“He has such courage and together we hope that we have gone some way to breaking down barriers. I am a better person and a better dancer for having met him.”
Every week as the pair progressed towards the finals Redebe was visibly emotional often during the dance.
“I spent my entire childhood hiding from who I really was, even my family didn’t know.
“I stopped going to family gatherings and weddings so that I could avoid the inevitable questions about who I was in a relationship with, when was I going to get married? But now I can be who I truly am and my mama can be proud of what I have become.”
Redabe and Waite have just finished the Strictly Tour and now Redabe’s attention has moved to his show Freedom which kicks off in Bridlington on March 16, followed by other Yorkshire dates which will include Sheffield, Bradford, York and Hull.
“Freedom is my story but it is also the story of the people who have helped me along the way. I now feel that the UK is my home.
“I do want to go back to South Africa and I want to teach, to work with youngsters to show them that you can be true to yourself.”
■ For more information on Freedom and where you can see it in Yorkshire visit https://johannes-live.com/