EMASWATI TO LIFT COUNTRY’S FLAG IN CAPE TOWN

MBABANE –  Dancing all the way to Cape Town!

Kids In Motion Ballerinas has bagged yet another ballet competition, and will be heading to Cape Town in July for the South African International Ballet Competition. Kids In Motion is a local ballet studio owned by professional (ballet) dancer and choreographer, Velile Dube. Four children out of eight were selected after they submitted their ballerina’s videos to the South African Competition Director, Dirk Badenhorst. The names of the four girls who made it through are Wethu Zwane, Alexis Made, Ndoniyamanzi Luhlanga and Ngcebo Nyoni.

represented

The selected 4 ballerinas will compete in the Mother City at the Artscape Theatre from July 25 to July 31.  Eswatini has never been represented in this competition; this will be the first of its kind. When reached for comment Dube expressed her excitement about the milestone of her studio “This is one of South Africa’s biggest ballet competitions, so having our ballerinas make it through is a huge achievement. This is very big for the country as a whole because, for the very first time our flag will be raised in Cape Town. ‘‘I am very proud of the girls and wish them nothing but the best” said Dube.

She went on to ask the public for support in the dance industry with sponsorship where possible.  She also shared that it was not their first time bagging an international competition. “We have won other competitions before, in 2019 a group of seven girls qualified to participate in Talent Africa, they were supposed to go to Croatia for the finals then COVID 19 hit unfortunately,” said Dube. She further said that in 2018 they bagged another competition named Novi Sad Serbia and only one girl Siphosethu Mlotsa participated.  When asked about funding, Dube revealed that the parents normally contribute, hence why they asking for any assistance from the public. At the upcoming competition, male and female dancers from all over the world compete separately in four categories: Novice (age 6 - 8), Scholars (age 9-12), juniors (age 13-20) and seniors (age 21-28).

intensive

Medals, bursaries, scholarships to ballet schools and summer intensive programmes at some of the finest dance training institutions in the world, will be awarded and launched as an initiative of the company director. This competition is one of the biggest s in South Africa.  The company director is one of the major players in the South Africa ballet and dance, having served as a founding member and the first CEO of the South African Ballet Theatre. Now Director of Mzansi Productions and the South African International Ballet Competition, Badenhorst has served on numerous high-level ballet competition jury panels world-wide, and is committed to making a positive impact on ballet in Africa.

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