Special dancer defies boundaries

When she was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder – a disease that caused her to be mute and left her struggling with coordination during her younger years – Tsebang Siphambo had no idea that this would lead her to creative arts.

To improve her speech, her mother took her to a speech therapist but had to find an alternative therapy method when they could no longer afford to pay for the sessions. 

“One of the ladies from my speech therapy sessions suggested I try ballet, and at the age of four I had my first ballet lessons and I’ve never looked back‚” the 24-year-old told Sowetan. 

Now, she holds several international and local awards from competing in countries such as Poland, Croatia, Germany and the US. Siphambo was also crowned the overall achiever at this year’s Battle of the Giants dance sports festival, which took place at the Sun City Superbowl at the weekend.

The arena would come alive and the crowd would go wild whenever she took to the stage to perform her solo and group routines in the jazz category. 

Although Siphambo says she never expected to win in so many categories, she reveals that she had prepared intensely for the competition. 

“I have rehearsals at the Faymous Studios every day and my rehearsal periods are normally two to six hours long. But I have rest days once a week, usually on Sundays.

"And then mentally, I just have my one-on-one sessions with the most high [God] and I leave everything on the stage. I can also feel that I’m getting older now, so it takes a lot of mental strength‚” Siphambo, who is also a forensic psychologist student, explains. 

Commenting about her talent, judge and esteemed South African ballroom dancer, Tebogo Kgobokoe describes Siphambo as “special”. 

“She is special and special dancers don’t have any boundaries in terms of who they appeal to. They really have a general appeal to anybody and if you don’t even know dancing, a special dancer can take you there, and that is exactly what I’ve seen in her,” the former champion who now trains dancers said. 

She also shared what she was looking for from the dancers throughout the competition. 

“We’re given criteria to judge from and that criteria is very important because it ensures that the dancers we choose are of the highest caliber. Beyond all of that I look for passion and how a person leaves their heart on the stage. I also look for the x-factor and that element that I can’t put my finger on but it makes my hair stand up and my soul smile‚” Kgobokoe shared. 

Another pair that impressed the crowd was Dineo Du Toit and Zara De Sousa, who came out tops in the under-12 WTC tap duo category. They share how they got into tap dancing. 

“I actually started off by wanting to do acro [acrobatic] and jazz dancing and there was a studio that I went to before and it didn’t really work out so when I went to Just Wing It dance studio I felt at home and fell in love with tap dancing‚” Du Toit says while De Sousa reveals that she was inspired to dance by her grandmother. 

“I was influenced by my cousins and my sisters to start dancing as well as my grandmother, who used to be a tap dancer. At first it was a hobby but then I actually started to find the fun in it. Although I’m doing this for fun now, I really hope to become famous through tap dancing one day,” she says. 

Well on his way to becoming famous through tap is 13-year-old WTC male tap solo winner, Tariq Simelane, who has already travelled to Croatia, Spain and Barcelona. 

“I really did not think I was going to win today because I made a couple of mistakes because the floor here is a bit weird but I’m glad I did‚” he said. 

This year’s competition saw the introduction of new dance styles, which include Afro styles, Pantsula and Sbujwa, Afro crews and Tap battles.

“Coming out of Covid, we did have a good competition last year but this year felt like everybody was a bit more back to normal and we had a lot more support. Most importantly, we tried some new sections in the competition and I think that’s something we can move forward with going into 2024‚” Bev Wood, president of the South African Body of Dance and the organiser of Battle of the Giants said.