A Chance to Dance at Arts Week

The Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport partnered with the Saldanha Bay dance crew, TK EXPLOSIVES, to make a difference in the lives of aspiring dancers from St Helena Bay.

The dance crew, which competed in the 2012 African Hip Hop Indaba, motivated the participants by sharing some of their knowledge and skills at a dance workshop on Thursday, 4 October 2012. This session formed part of the dance workshops at the Laingville Community Hall and serves as a build up to the Saldanha Bay Arts Week hosted by the department and its partners.

Amongst the 25 groups that attended the session, there was several that were eager to learn valuable Hip Hop skills from TK EXPLOSIVES. The facilitator, Ms Nandipha Sandlana of the Jikeleza Dance Project, said that it was a great idea to involve the dance crew as they could serve as role models.

The dance crew were pleased to make a difference. Their leader, Bradley Michaels, said that it was important to encourage the participants to come up with unique moves, and not just to use the moves that the crew taught them. “The moves that we teach them can make a huge impact but it’s always important to be unique, and that’s what we want to promote here,” he said.

Adrian Kearns of the Directorate: Arts and Culture thanked the dance crew and added that the workshop performed an important function through uniting youths from different communities around the dance floor. The participants performed at the main event of the Arts Week at Weston High School, Louwville, Vredenburg, on Friday, 5 October 2012.