TnT to promote urban dance
Dumisani Ncube | Tuesday July 15, 2014 12:16
With urban dance not being recognised in the country, TnT has opted to conduct weekly workshops to promote dance and make it recognised and appreciated. Urban dance is a fusion of various hip hop dances such as break dancing, krump, bopping and doughing to mention just a few.
Tendai Mangiroza the leader of the 11-member crew told Showbiz that as one of the few dance groups in the country they found it to be their responsibility to workshop people. He said that they hope that it will grow as time goes on. The dance workshops are held at the Botswana National Youth Centre (BNYC) courts every Saturday.
Mangiroza said the workshops are open to anyone who is interested to take part.
“I’m really glad with the turnout that we receive at these workshops and I would love to see more people coming through,” he said. Mangiroza mentioned that dancers from other crews have also been attending the workshops.
Another TnT seasoned dancer Thato Musa mentioned that in Botswana dance is not recognised compared to other countries such as South Africa, Brazil and USA.
“Some of the dancers do not take dance seriously they just take it as a hobby so we are trying to motivate everyone to view dance as something serious,” he said.
Musa said that dancers face a challenge when it comes to getting dance gigs. He added that promoters do not take dancers seriously to the extent that dancers would hire them for a gig, but be dropped at the last minute.
The dancer also told Showbiz that their wish is to conduct these workshops nationwide and make urban dance known and appreciated. He also said they would love to conduct dance workshops in different countries.
TnT dance crew has featured in a number of music videos and they have also shot their own dance videos, which they have uploaded on YouTube. The crew was also among the dancers who participated at the Africa Youth Games opening ceremony.