Dancing is freedom made physical. Every jump, twist, and shake embodies the liberation people feel when they express themselves through their bodies. For Kyle Grant, Gugu Mofokeng, and Cathrine Mathebe, dance has taken them even further – it’s choreographed their destinies.
“A few years ago, I was very unhealthy and I got sick,” Cathrine Mathebe remembers. She was overweight, plagued by arthritis and high blood pressure to the point of being bedridden. Unwilling to let her body deteriorate, Mathebe got up one morning. She slowly began to groove to music, clutching onto a broom for support. “It was painful,” Mathebe says. But the next day, she did it again. By pushing herself over the next few months, Mathebe regained her strength. Today, she leads her community to health with her Bophelong Fitness Club. “If you move your body along, you can move your life along,” Mathebe says.
Kyle Grant secured his future en pointe. Torn between two households after his parents’ divorce, the teenager felt unsettled and adrift. But as he practised his ballet and classical dancing, Grant honed the confidence to see himself through the turbulence. “I learnt to stretch myself beyond my circumstances,” he says. “When I danced, I forgot about everything.” Channeling his passion, Grant became the youngest person at 15 to perform and choreograph a piece at the Baxter Dance Festival.
Her feet beating against the earth, Gugu Mofokeng broke new ground as a dancer. “People believed that it’s only men who can do pantsula,” she says. Mofokeng proved them wrong. Determined to learn the uniquely South African style, she put her best food forward until she nailed the moves. “It took me eight months,” Mofokeng says. The rhythm ingrained in her muscles, Mofokeng has grown more in tune with her heritage. “Pantsula has given me the opportunity to see the world and to fall deeper in love with my culture,” she says.
Our true potential is always in reach. Mofokeng, Mathebe, and Grant found theirs through dance. So stand up, stretch your arms, and get moving. It just might put a new spin on your life.
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