Dance for All’s, Young InSPIRAtions group will perform at the prestigious Cape Town International Ballet Competition (CTIBC) this month.
Dance for All’s Young InSPIRAtions group has received an invitation to perform at the prestigious Cape Town International Ballet Competition (CTIBC) that begins on 27 February at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town.
Young InSPIRArations is a non-professional group that was formed by Dance for All’s Founder and CEO Philip Boyd in honour of his late wife the Prima Ballerina Assoluta Phyllis Spira (hence the use of upper case letters in the word ‘inSPIRAtions’). The group is headed up at DFA by former CAPAB Ballet dancer and choreographer Christopher Kindo. The talented InSPIRAtions dancers range in age from 14 to 20 and are drawn from various areas and townships in and around Cape Town. Before an illustrious audience and the distinguished panel of international judges from the UK, USA, South America, Cuba, South Korea and Switzerland, these promising and enthusiastic dancers-all with an eye on a career in the professional dance environment- will perform Kindo’s proudly South African work entitled Imvula, inspired by the poem Die Dans van die Reën by Eugene Marais.
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Young InSPIRArations on stage
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Dance for All (DFA) is a non-profit organisation that was established 21 years ago initially teaching ballet to a small group of children in Gugulethu. Today DFA teaches a variety of dance forms to the children and youth of Gugulethu, Nyanga, Khayelitsha, Athlone, Barrydale, Montagu and Zolani near Montagu. Adult classes are also offered during the week. It is estimated that over the past two decades 15,000 to 20,000 children from previously disadvantaged backgrounds have been given the opportunity to dance, gain self-esteem, understand discipline and receive training. While the roots of DFA are with the township youth, the fruits of its training programmes are seen in the world class professional dancers that DFA has produced such as Xola Putye, now a Principal with Cape Town City Ballet, and another DFA graduate, the dancer and choreographer Noluyanda Mqulwana, who has performed with the Swiss dance company Cinevox and with The Lion King in Singapore, after which she was invited to join the cast of The Lion King in Germany.
The 3rd Cape Town International Ballet Competition is the premier event of its kind on the African continent and draws stunning ballet and contemporary dance talent from SA and countries including Russia, the USA, China, Cuba, Australia, South Korea and Argentina. The week’s intense elimination rounds culminate in the grand Finale where medals are awarded with monetary prizes totalling R300,000. It is the most thrilling dance event on the city’s cultural calendar and in the past has been attended by Premier Helen Zille with a gala dinner hosted by the former First Lady Zanele Mbeki.
Young InSPIRAtions will perform as guest artists at the Cape Town International Ballet Competition on Friday 2 March and Saturday 3 March at 8pm at the Finals and Gala events respectively.