Musa Motha at the Premier of Gregory Maqoma's CION: Requiem of Ravel's Bolero at Joburg Theatre on January 30, 2022 in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Photo by Gallo Images/Oupa Bopape)
All the world’s a stage for dancer Musa Motha. And while he didn’t win the Britain’s Got Talent finale on Sunday, he flew Mzansi’s flag high and achieved a highlight of his personal journey.
“I will continue to work hard and smart and endeavour to inspire people,” said Motha, whose performances captured the imagination of a five million-plus television audience – twice.
His debut on the show earned him a unanimous golden buzzer and secured his place in the finale, the second sent a clear message that this is not the last that the world has heard from Motha.
WATCH: SA’s amputee dancer stuns Britain’s Got Talent
The 27-year-old amputee is ambitious and has big plans. Entertaining people is his passion and inspiring those who do not believe in themselves, his mission. He said that after losing his leg, due to osteosarcoma cancer, when he was 10 years old, it was dance that saved him.
He said: “My friends introduced me to dance, taught me how to do it, and I narrowed my attention to it and worked as hard as possible at mastering it.”
It’s this determination and grit that has shaped the person he has become, said Motha. Focus and sweat are his rules of thumb and it pays dividends. Motha’s positivity is infectious and while losing his leg may be viewed as an obstacle to living a normal, able-bodied lifestyle and pursuing a career where disabled persons rarely venture, he believed the opposite.
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“I do not recall having any obstacles when I was growing up,” he said.
Instead, the amputation afforded him a fresh lease at life.
“It was expected, due to the cancer, so it was not a shock or traumatic event for me. I prefer to view it as an opportunity to have another chance in life.”
Underpinning the hard work and hours he clocks up was a conscious decision not to allow disability to turn into disablement.
“In everything I do, I do my best,” he said.
Motha left South Africa 18 months ago and settled in the United Kingdom in a bid to further his career. He is employed at a dance company in London.
Beyond that, stardom already beckoned and he has appeared in rapper Drake’s One Dance hit music video, as well as several television advertisements.
Reaching the final of Britain’s Got Talent, said Motha, was like a dream that he did not want to wake up from. The exposure alone has afforded him an opportunity to inject greater momentum into his career.
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Beyond his talent and level-headed approach to life, Motha encapsulates what it means to be proudly South African and achieve against all odds. For him, a positive can-do attitude lowers barriers and flattens hurdles – and it’s a mechanism to get things done. And he does get things done.
From learning to play soccer from scratch and learning how to dance after his amputation has been a journey that Motha said, he did not walk alone. He credited his mom at every opportune moment as the person who stood by him and the person he draws inspiration from.
“My mom was and remains to be there for me in every aspect of my life. She taught me some of the most important aspects of life.”
He said she shared a simple rule with him from a young age – which he lives by daily. She told him everything happens for a reason and at the time that it’s meant to, and these words continue to resonate with him at every turn.
– news@citizen.co.za
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