Dance

So I feel I should explain to you as to what goes on in my head sometimes…

So here is goes, My name is Lovejoy Shangase and I’m a young female who loves Dance, okay maybe not love lets say Obsessed with dance. The art itself and not just the people. I take an interest into all dance genres.

 Me… My Face… just a simple 

So now you see me… I am currently studying in Jhb and I had this blog as a part of my Media Studies and now I am taking over it and making it my own. So enough about me… let’s get down to business

‘’Opportunity dances with those who

are already on the dance floor’’ – Jackson Browne

Paula van Oppen

I know you probably hear dancers say that Dancing releases emotions and stress etc… but it’s true. Dancing gives you a sense of freedom and relaxation like you’ve never imagined. It allows you to be creative and positive.

  

People say dancing in South Africa is a dead end career, but I feel otherwise. Dancing in SA is actually growing… hard even. We have so many beautifully talented people and just need to communicate them around. And as an aspiring dancer you have to be open to being told no every now and then and take classes. Aint no shame in taking a workshop from someone else, be it they are higher than you or also just starting out. Learn new things every now and then; challenge yourself and the people you are growing with. If you are a Krumper for example 1 day go to a contemporary workshop or class, or even take up modern. Just don’t always be cooped up in your one genre and get too comfortable. Also give props when they are due.

‘’You don’t stop dancing because you grow old, you grow old because you stopped dancing’’- unknown

Okay let me not lecture people too much… lets make this post short and simple

You can get me on these sites

Facebook:           Lovejoy Shangase

Twitter:                                @Ljay_S

IG:                                          @Ljay_S

For whatsapp or bbm please ask for it.

Much Love

 LJay

Break Dancing

In the world that is dance, it is formed in a way that people have their own clicks (communities) and as the basically trained dancers people tend to outcast Break-Dancers.

In this picture we have your classic break dancer Michael Bernardes.

 

But unfortunately this style of dance is under rated and underappreciated in South Africa, it is classified as an untrained form of dance. I’ve been taking Break dancing classes for the past 3-4 weeks and that form of dancing really requires strength and discipline. The hours that get put into perfecting this dance style have nothing less than pain and sweat. So it is a very hectic sport.

 

 



BBoy Dexter at theRedbull BC1 cypher

 

 

There are a couple of platforms for the break dancers of South Africa to showcase themselves like:

·         Redbull  BC1

·         Back 2 the City

·         King Of The Beat

·         Battle of the Giants

·         Big Bang

·         Krumpers vs Bboy

·         And maybe private sessions

And these competitions are not really recocgnised or supported. Krump is also an un nioticed dance style but we will get into to that next time.

 

Break dancing is a very beautiful dance style and I commend the break dancers in south Africa for sticking to it, the boys and the girls.



Back and ready 4 action! DANCE

I know its been over a year since ive blogged but im back and ready for action…

I have a bit of a problem with how dancing is acknowledged in this country (South Africa). The dance events that we have are not really covered well or advertised well. Dancers are taken as just a simple entertainment and not as artists.

The first event that is normally overlooked is called ‘Dance to Las Vegas’. It is an event that takes place annually as qualifiers for Hip-Hop International World Championship held in Las Vegas, Nevada USA. There are qualifiers in all the major dance cities of South Africa ; Johannesburg, Capetown and Port Elizabeth. The top 5 crews in the cities in every category then make it to the Final round and from there the top 3 are then taken to represent South Africa in the World Championship in Las Vegas. The advertisement of the event is normally not big and I don’t understand why. The people who know about the events are the people in the dance communities and I believe if it was handled properly we might be able to get more people to see and sponsor these events.

So You Think You Can Dance South Africa season 3 was a big disappointment. as not a lot of people knew in time about the auditions. Word only properly went out into the streets about 2 weeks before the auditions started in Capetown, South Africa which didn’t give dancers and aspiring dancers enough time to get themselves up to par. In my opinion not a lot of the country’s best dancers were able to audition as they couldn’t work it in properly to their schedules.

So in all I am not impressed with the way the Public Relations Practitioners of these dance events handle the situations and these are not the only dance events that suffer from this problem. I am hoping that soon this problem will be solved.

Dancing South Africa's way to Lav Vegas



Flyer to DTLV 2012

 This is an annual competition
that is held across South Africa
to choose the dancing crews that
will represent South Africa at the
International World Hip Hop Dance and World Battles  competition in Las Vegas which was founded in 2002.

Each year the judges choose 12 top crews from across South Africa to compete to represent the country. The top 3 crews from each age category will qualify and from the Mega Crew section, and 12 Solo dancers will be selected to represent South Africa in the World battles. This competition is very big and well known among the dancers in the SA dance world, but i fear that it is not very well advertised as not a lot of ordinary South Africans know anything about it. Let me try break it down on how it works.

Solos Section : Locking Battles, Popping Battles, All style Battles

Crews : All style Battles

Mega Crews : All style Battles

The normal crews have to have a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 8 dancers. These crews have age restrictions. Junior: Age 7-12 , Varsity: Age 13-17, Adult: 18 +. The mega crews on the other hand have to have a minimum of 15 and a maximum of 40 dancers with no age restrictions. these crews can have male and female dancers in the crews.

You may get your tickets at your nearest Computicket. This dancer competition is one of the most anticipated competitions here in SA, and i feel it should be more advertised around the country. I feel there are so many more South Africans who would love to support such an event.

So get ready to be wowed by the talent that South Africa has to offer, and keep your dancing shoes on.

1 of the crews that compete

If you want more information that you think i cant answer you  can go to www.hiphopdancesa.com

Chomee

Thulisile Madihlaba

Her birth name is Thulisile Madihlaba, she was born on the 6^th of October  1986 in meadowlands, Soweto, in South Africa. Well this young lady started off as a dancer at the tender age of just 9 years old for an artist named Arthur Mafokate. She spent most of her years as a dancer.  She eventually started her own dance crew called Dance Divas. She is currently a judge of a dance show called ‘Turn it out’. They were doing good, they were seen as South Africa’s version of the spice girls, which I completely disagree with.

chomee rocking the stage

Chomee came in the industry with her outfits and caught the attention of quite a number of males and young girls.

Yes I am saying it, Chomee is a very good dancer. Then she went and ventured out to singing. Some of her better-known songs include Jiva Sexy, Dlala nge Figure, Cried all my Tears, Uthando Lwakho, Stranger, Tell me what you want, Ziyawa La, This is for the ladies and Jika Sik'bone.. Her choreography for her music videos was good, but Chomee as a singer? Well people all have their different opinions.



chomee and her dancers



Well she is very good on stage, has the energy  and can get the crowd pumped up, but can she truly sing?

So You Think You Can Dance?

Do you truly think you can dance?  If so then by all means go try out for the Dance competition TV show. In South Africa we have our version of this show which is doing pretty well. We have only gone through two seasons but it is quite visible that it will be a great success. My one main insight on this matter is that the show is for a variety of dance styles but it seems like the same person won both  seasons.

Season 1

Elizma when she won SYTYCD South Africa,season 1

In the 1^st season we got Elizma Wildschutte a 31 year old female from Cape Town, South Africa. Elizma is a freelance dancer who specialises in Contemporary dance. She started training in ballet and modern jazz at age 5 with C.A.F.D.A school of dance under the direction of Wendy Abrahams. She trained there 'till matric after which I joined Jazz art Dance Theatre’s training programme for 3 years. She then left for Johannesburg at the end of 2002 where she freelanced for 5 years doing various corporate gigs and back up dancing for local artists.

Season 2

Lulu when she won SYTYCD South Africa,season 2

Now came the 2^nd season where we saw Lulu Mlangeni taking it all. Lulu is 25 year old female from Soweto in Johannesburg, South Africa. Lulu is a freelance dancer who specialises in Contemporary, She started dancing in Soweto (where she lives) in a community dance group doing modern dancing. Later she got introduced to contemporary in 2004. She has worked with the most prominent choreographers in South Africa such as Gregory Maqoma, Nelisiwe Xaba, P.J Shabaga, James Ngcobo etc. She has toured nationally and internationally (including Germany, Tanzania, Mexico, Brazil, Paris, Amsterdam etc.).

Elizma Wildshutte

Here you see the pictures of the two dancers and you can see the similarity between them. But this is only just the visual similarities, after going in depth of research about these two dancers I noticed other similarities in how they carry themselves and their dance styles.

Lulu Mlangeni

For a dance show that prides themselves in the variety in dance styles this I find weird. Not saying that these two dancers weren’t good just that I’m sure some of you guys had your favourite dancer. Which one was your favourite dancer?

Luthando TJ Mthembu

Before I start I would love to apologize for not blogging last week, but it being the Easter weekend I got caught up between my promotion job and being at church the rest of the time.

This week’s blog is about Luthando Mthembu, better known as TJ, a very talented young man that is 22 years of age. TJ was born and raised in Durban, well TJ is not only just a dancer. He also Raps, Sings, does Photography and models  mainly he deals with media.

TJ starting rapping since 2005 and hasn’t stopped since. He loves rapping and in my opinion is good at it. Being the good rapper that he was he didn’t get noticed by rapping. He was and still is known in Durban as 1 of the good Krumpers that Durban has to offer. He got inspired to start dancing from the movie ‘You Got Served’ and since then he has been in love with dancing. TJ doesn’t just Krump  he is a dancer in all aspects he also break danced at some point in his life.

TJ started  dance crews which did
well but because loyalty is very rare
 with young dancers some of those
crews fell through, but that didn’t
stop him from his love of dance.
His experience with all these different
 dancers has taught him a lot about the
 world of dancing.

TJ doesn’t just want dancing to be all he does in life (don’t  get me wrong, he loves it and has a great passion for it) which is why he got into modelling and photography. I guess you can say that he is a jack of all trades. He is a part of a dance company called Break Thru Dance Company BTDC in Durban, he is a dancer there uplifting the youth in dance and making the people around him understand more on Krumping. I have a feeling everyone will be seeing more on TJ as he has quite a bright future.

TJ behind the lense of his camera