What is dance?

Dance is a type of art that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, performed in many different cultures and used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting. A form of nonverbal communication between humans. Well that is what Wikipedia says. I say its close enough, just that Wikipedia has the technical definition of Dance.

There are a lot of different definition of dance from all the different dancers. Some will say dance is life, while others will tell you dance is expression. No one is wrong, just that everyone has their own ways of expressing what dance is. People seem to think that dance is just all about professional competitions. But dance can also just be for the pure enjoyment of it and just letting loose.like these people.

So seeing as though there are different definition of dance, what is yours?

Pansula

It seems like in my previous blogs I’ve just been focusing on Hip Hop dancing, don’t get it wrong South Africa has a whole lot of different genres in dancing. Today I shall touch on our proudly South African dance… Pantsula. The Zulu word  ‘pantsula’ means to “waddle like a duck or to walk with protruded buttocks”.

The pantsula became a very popular form of dance in the 1980s among young men and women in townships of Africa. They didn’t just use it to express themselves but it also became a way of life for them. In those days pantsula was regarded as a proper dance. Well time has changed and perceptions of dance have changed over the years. Pantsula now is seen as a dance styles for rebellious youth, tsotsis (thugs). Pantsula as a dance is explained to be a flat footed African tap-and-glide style of dance.                                                 This dance style was always normally performed on the streets anywhere. Now they have music with the dance (kwaito). The pantsula’s have a specific attire that the dance in.

Pantsula is seen as a dying dance style.

So in your opinion, is this dance style dying, or is it forever going to be there and a proudly South African style?

In Beyoncé’s music video for  ‘who runs the world (girls)’ Pantsula was one of the dance styles represented.

HappyFeet society

This is a society dedicated entirely to Young aspiring dancers around South Africa. The teachers of the society are all young dancers and have be travelling around the world for competitions. Today i shall focus on one of the choreographers: Rudi Smit

He is a caucasian male age 19 with green eyes from Cape Town, South Africa. He has been dancing since he was ten years old, but dancing professionally for 5 years.

Rudi has been using dance to express himself for quite some time now. His preferred dance style is Waacking. Through his dance you can see clearly his emotions. His interpretation of the music is precise and on point. Rudi has gained his exposure through uploading videos of his routines on YouTube www.youtube.com/RubeTube14. By doing so he is letting the world see him and his passion. This also has led to rudi getting opportunities to choreograph for shows. This has therefore taken him to places LA, Las Vegas and Germany to name a few. Rudi is not just an average dancer, he also choreographs for 2 dance crews : Primitive dance crew and Untamed dance crew (both these crews compete annually at the Dance to Las Vegas competition)





“Your dance identifies who you are.”

“You have to believe there's something at the other side.

And you have to have faith in yourself.

You have to think that you have the tools to accomplish it.”

- Twyla Tharp

The begining of something good

Welcome to the first post of Dancemania. This blog will be focusing on the dance worls of South Africa and maybe touch on Dancers from else where.

There are quite a few great dancers here in our country that are not getting the exposure that they deserve, and is this partially because dance is not a rcognised sport here in South Africa?
So these dancers expose themselves by uploading videos of their routines up on YouTube for people to see.

Did you know that South African dancers compete in worldwide dancing competitions every year and are representing the country quite well. on this blog i shall be giving you feedback on the happenings of the dance world as a whole.

These dancers also hold workshops around the country so that they teach other aspiring young dancers about the new dance styles.

Hope you enjoy what i have in store for you.