Durban dancer leaps into UK opportunity
Durban dancer Mthoko Mkhwanazi has been invited by one of the world leaders in contemporary African and Caribbean dance, the ACE Dance & Music company in Birmingham, UK, to fulfil a one-year residency.
Hailing from KwaMashu, Mkhwanazi started dancing in 2010 with the Flatfoot Dance Company community project, the Siyakhula Dance Programme. In 2011 he travelled with the company to Zimbabwe.
His road to dance started by chance. “This has been a good journey. I have enjoyed every moment of it. It all started when I joined Siyakhula in KwaMashu. I was accompanying a friend actually, but when I got there everything changed. I fell in love with dancing. I started doing contemporary dance which brought so many opportunities.”
Today a full-time professional dancer with the company, he has worked with Lliane Loots, Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika and guest choreographers Fana Tshabalala, Yaseen Manuel and Vincent Mantsoe.
From Siyakhula, he attended the Advanced Dance Development programme that was formed for potential dancers. “I trained more. I drilled my body, and learnt more discipline and actually strengthened my body. Things started to fall in place."
He knows the UK residency will further his career in dance. “In dance you never stop learning, in each dance class you always have something to learn. I am very excited to be going to the UK. I wish this opportunity will last forever and I hope my other dance mates get the same opportunity,” he said.
Mkhwanazi thanked his family and friends for understanding his passion for dance and for never discouraging him. “No one has ever criticised me. After my father’s passing, I had a pressure to take care of my family because I am the only boy.
“Some days I would question whether I was doing enough to take care of my family? Do I need to quit and get a real job? But I never gave up on my love for dancing. I never will take dancing as a business or a job. I dance because I love it,” he said.
Mkhwanazi will leave for Birmingham this week.
The Independent on Saturday