Mzansi Ballet: Telling Cinderella’s story with an ABBA twist at Montecasino [VIDEO]

Combining the age-old tale of Cinderella with the music of 1970s pop group ABBA sounds ridiculously far-fetched but the Mzansi Ballet has attempted this to bring about a whimsical show at Montecasino.

“It’s a ballet, but in a more populist way in that it has audience participation, it has the opportunity of singing along. People just know the music so well, so it is much more festive and perfectly placed for this time of year,” CEO and Director at Mzansi Ballet Dirk Badenhorst told The Citizen.

Choreographed by Angela Revie, Cinderella’s journey is told through dance numbers set to ABBA hits like Dancing Queen, Mamma Mia, and The Winner Takes It All.

The ABBA Show: A Cinderella Story is currently running at the Pieter Toerien Montecasino Main Theatre, Johannesburg until 19 January.

“The sales have been really good. We believe that for the last three weekends, this coming weekend included, the sales will improve still. I’m hoping we will achieve great sales,” said Badenhorst.

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Ballet and Pantsula

In December the Mzansi Ballet presented the Carmen show, a tale that brings together the fiery rhythms of flamenco, the elegance of ballet, and the high-energy moves of Pantsula.

“Carmen being a more traditional ballet with the inclusion of Spanish dance and Pantsula dancing with classical ballet; the audience has truly reacted so well to it,” shared Badenhorst.

“It was a much higher than expected attendance and that was then followed by the show that is currently running.”

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Christmas gift

In the midst of all the dancing, the Mzansi Ballet thought of the less fortunate as they encouraged their patrons to donate gifts, which were to be placed on stage during the interval of their shows.

The initiative, now in its third year, follows the success of their previous gift donation initiative.

According to Badenhorst, there have been more than 500 gifts donated so far.

“We actually have a Friends of Mzansi Ballet table where we are raising money for the company and the schools in our development programs.

“We are selling gifts at the theatre that people can purchase and place under the Christmas tree. At the end of the run on the 19th of January, we will distribute these gifts to orphanages.”

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SA ballet in 2025

In 2024 the Mzansi Ballet hosted the South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) which brought ballet dancers from different parts of the world to Cape Town.

“2024 was a good year for me as a producer and 2025 is loaded with the staging of The gold rhino of Mapungubwe in Bloemfontein,” Badenhorst said.

Other projects for the upcoming year will be the creation of a national festival called The Mzansi Ballet and Ticino Sounds to be held in Lugano, Switzerland. The festival is expected to take place in July.

There will also be the staging of the 12th SAIBC in July at the Artscape Theatre in Cape Town.

“With some of the most incredible adjudicators coming from around the world to grace us with their incredible wisdom and experience.”

The Carmen ballet will also head to Cape Town in September 2025. Before that, there will be the staging of the Freedom Park concert series in August at Freedom Park in Pretoria. 

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