We provide a variety of dance styles, including Ballroom, Latin, Rhythm, Smooth and Social Dances, through private lessons, group classes and choreography. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. I grew up in South Africa during apartheid, a period of racial segregated that occurred between 1948-1990’s during which the government ensured the minority white population dominated politica
lly, socially and economically. Zulu is my first language (which includes click sounds as consonants) and dancing is an important part of my family and Zulu culture. When I was at crèche (pre-school), we would have to perform Zulu dancing every Friday which is my traditional dance. By the age of 11, I was asked to dance Latin American style at my uncle’s wedding and had to take lessons from my cousin who was already dancing competitively. It was really awkward to dance with a girl at the age 11. I felt really embarrassed, didn’t know what to do, and had two left feet (“hard to believe now😊). After the wedding, I stopped dancing for two months but was invited to watch my cousin perform in a dance competition which was a huge inspiration for me. Looking at the joy that he had in his face drove me to come back and continue dancing. By 1998, I started to win a lot of competitions in my province and even placed first in my first national competition as a juvenile age 11. I continued for the next two years striving in bronze, silver, and gold levels. I just needed one more level to wear the glitz and glamour costume (like the Dancing with the Stars television show), which is called Novice. After achieving Novice level, I swept the category progressing to pre-championship (which was a bit challenging at first) but was winning by the end of the year. By the time I got to Amateur, which is the last and most difficult level, I had to challenge myself to progress further. When I finished high school, I decided to pursue a career in computer studies. I went to Mangosuthu University of Technology which is closer to the city but had to choose between playing soccer or start dancing again. Luckily the university had a dance team so I decided to do both. The first three months were the most difficult of my dancing career because I was so stiff from playing soccer. However, after a year of dancing at the university, my mobility and creativity returned to the level I was as a junior. I made three South African national finals in a row and, since 2005, I haven’t stopped dancing since. After university, I had an opportunity to come to the United States in 2010 to do my IT internship. This also meant I had to stop my dancing career and move away from my family. My first two months here were extremely difficult. I did not understand the culture and was living “in the woods”, as I call it, in Wentzville, MO. I just went from my house to work and back for the first four months. After a while, I decided to move to the city so I can have a chance at dancing again. I remember contacting many studios but few replied or were interested. After a lot of conversations, someone finally recommended Agnieszka Strojek-Maguire, my current dance partner. I was told she was the only woman who could take me to level where I want to be. After a month of training, we competed in the St. Louis StarBall in the Professional and Amateur (Pro/Am) category and won first place. Since then we have received training from world-class coaches and have won 8 titles across the United States including the Chicago Harvest Moon Ballroom and Cleveland Dancesport. We are also ranked fifth in the world in the Latin dance style of Mambo. Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome? In retrospect, I feel truly blessed to be where I am. When I was young, there was no running water and I had to use a wheelbarrow to pick up spring water about 3 km away from my house and then purify it using a teaspoon of bleach. This continued until 1994 when apartheid ended and Nelson Mandela became a president. After this, I saw the ocean for the first time despite living only 25 minutes away. During apartheid, you were only allowed to move from point A to B for protection from the police which had constant patrols and you always needed to have DOM pass (this law was to manage the segregation of the population within South Africa). In addition, you still needed to stick by the rules when you see signs that say “whites only”. During junior high, at the age of seven, I would walk about 1 hour to get to school every day for the next seven years. Things changed and dancing moved to the city. My mom couldn’t afford for me to take transportation to the city and continue dancing, so for a period of five years, I decided to play soccer. While I was here in the US during my Internship, my time came to an end on October 31, 2012 and I had to go back to South Africa. Between 2012 and 2014, I would travel back and forth between America and South Africa on a tourist visa as often as possible. Since this visa only lasted for six months, it was a very difficult time in my dancing career. In 2014, the government forced me to stay in South Africa where I tried to focus on my dancing. After a while, I had progressed to the point where I could apply for an O1 visa – a visa for individuals with extraordinary ability or achievement. Over the next year, my partner, friends, and the Just Dancing studio held fundraisers to help pay for me to obtain this visa. I also had to gather all evidence of previous achievements as a dancer. This included: TV appearances in South Africa where I placed eight among the best dancers in the country, magazines publications, and my national achievements in competitions. After a lot of hard work, I was awarded a three year O1 visa in 2014 and was back in St. Louis dancing with my partner. Since then, we have won a lot of competitions and have become even better dancers. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic has triggered another pause in our dance careers but we’re still highly motivated to overcome yet another obstacle. Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work? I teach ballroom dancing at Just Dancing Studio, where I teach people of all ages. I specialize in teaching two styles of Ballroom called International Style and American Style. An example of these dances are: Swing, Mambo, Salsa, Bolero, Cha Cha Cha, Rumba, Samba, Jive, Paso Double, and Nightclub Two Step. I am known to be a very rhythmical dancer and I believe what sets me apart from others is the fact that I bring in a different style of rhythm to the dance world. I pay great attention to details when it comes to students based on their goals and all the things they desire or would like to achieve.
