Curro Academy Mahikeng and Dance by Erin dancers excel on international stage
10 June 2024When learners and alumni join forces, magic happens – even on a world stage! A group or 14 dancers made up of Curro Academy Mahikeng learners and alumni, under the training of former Strictly Come Dancing professional and choreographer, Erin Musson, recently danced their hearts out at the World Dance Masters. They leapt into second place for the Junior Urban and Formation Senior Open categories. Read more below!
After countless hours of practice in the dance studio, this passionate group of dancers from Dance by Erin excelled at the Pretoria leg of the South African qualifying rounds – and then travelled to Croatia at the end of May to perform on an international stage! Erin Musson, founder of Dance by Erin and now a teacher at Curro Academy Mahikeng, shared that the dancers joined her from different ages: a few at preschool age, with others just two years ago.
One of the dancers, Oreneile Mophulane – a Curro Alumni member (class of 2022) and former Ruta Sechaba bursary recipient – is no stranger to the stage. During his time at our school, he received multiple Kryptonite Awards in the prestigious Curro Arts Superheroes programme and even performed in the 2022 Gauteng Kryptonite Concert!
‘We’ve been preparing for these competitions, and the immeasurable effort we put into our routines was worth it! The sacrifices and challenges we overcame to make this trip reflect on us and our craft. Through teacher Erin's guidance we were competition-ready, and so treated this as a performance; that way we enjoy ourselves and dance at our optimum level,’ he shared with us.
Current Curro Academy Mahikeng learner and Grade 10 prefect, Olorato Koonyaditse echoed Oroneile’s sentiment by stating her experience of Croatia was great. ‘What I've learned through my dance teacher is that you can translate important messages without saying a word, and I saw that in motion in the different cultures we came across.’
Here are the names of the dancers (in alphabetical order) who set the Croatian stage alight:
- Bedi Moatlhodi
- Khensane Kakula
- Kutlwano Moilwa
- Matlhogonolo Bodibe
- Maya Phele
- Olorato Koonyaditse
- Olorato Mampe
- Omolemo Motsoenyane
- Omphemetse Senwedi
- Oreneile Mophulane
- Pako Breseno
- Tshegofatso Senwedi
- Tshiamo Dithipe
- Tshiamo Gaborone
