By Staff Reporter
QWAQWA – Thato Mkwanazi from Phuthaditjhaba, won the top junior solo prize at the World Dance Masters line dance championship in England. He won a first prize at the Winter Garden Ballroom and third prize in the Country Classic Team competition.
This twelve-year-old grade 6 learner from Witsieshoek primary school, is a member of his grandmother’s Maluti Arts Theatre. Mojalefa Richards, Bonolo Mokoena, Letlotlo Mphuti and Mvulazana Masiza also from the Maluti Arts Theatre, also won prizes. The Championships were held in Blackpool in England from 23 to 31 July.
“I couldn’t believe it when I heard my name being called in that big hall. That was the best moment of my life. It was the first time I competed at the world championships. Sharing the stage with other dancers from across the world was the best feeling. I was not afraid because I told myself that I just had to do what I had been doing best,” Thato said when talking to the media.
Thato started dancing at the age of three, and he was taught by his grandmother Mapula Mkwanazi, who was very patient to teach him at that tender age and now he has graduated to the next level of dancing with his grandmother still by his side.
Line dance is a choreographed dance in which people dance a repeating sequence of steps in one or more lines or rows. Thato had won several local competitions including Line Dance South Africa but this was his first time abroad. With line dance, dancers can compete solo if they do not have a partner.
Thato Mkhwanazi obtained 1st position in Line dance, World dance masters championship.
Mapula Mkwanazi said a team of nine dancers went to the Blackpool championship and expressed great excitement at this achievement and said the following, “We did a wonderful job. I knew that they would not disappoint me. I started the group in 2015 while I was a schoolteacher. We used the school hall to practice, and I used my own money to pay for food and transport for the dancers. We grew until the National Lotto Foundation funded us and that is how we managed to get here. We have dancers from the age of three years, and we dance on Saturdays in my house.”
Thato’s mother Sebongile Mkwanazi said that when her son had chosen dancing, she knew it was the perfect choice. “My son lifted the South African flag high and it is a moment that he will cherish for the rest of his life,” Mkwanazi said.
