Siya, aka ‘Sweet Bones’, is my way into the Ntuzuma dance scene. The recent Red Bull Beat Battle in Durban revealed that Ntuzuma, a township northwest of the city, is one of the epicentres of contemporary dance culture in the land of the Zulu Nation. Sweet Bones is a small, soft-spoken guy of 20. As we snake through the hellish afternoon traffic, Sweet Bones tells me his story.
‘I started dancing local style when I was about 12. Then one day I was walking home from school and I saw these guys doing crazy moves. Acrobatics and popping and locking and breaking. So I joined them and started learning hip hop. We eventually became the Warrior Knights, godfathers of Ntuzuma dance culture.’
Sweet Bones wears a tie, a purple button-up shirt, some slick rick jeans and high-tops. A young man dressed for success. He’s been with his manager, Allison Bain, discussing gigs at the BRICS Summit, uShaka Marine World and The Sharks Rugby on Saturday. His crew, Warrior Knights, is on fire.
‘Dancing gives us a future, you know. We travel the country, enter battles, do shows. Now we are teaching younger crews, and all the other kids in the township see that through dancing you can make it in this world.’
http://www.mahala.co.za/culture/introducing-the-ntuzuma-dance-scene-2/
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