Hip-hop dance choreograpy marks Women’s Day
Townshend thought of stepping out of her comfort zone when the idea of a high-energy hip-hop dance workshop for a Women's Day celebration popped up.
Ladies put on their best dancing shoes to go and celebrate Women’s Day at The Dance Academy SA studio on August 9, during a hip-hop workshop hosted by a qualified ballet and math teacher, Sarah Townshend.
Townshend thought of stepping out of her comfort zone when the idea of a high-energy hip-hop dance workshop popped up. She said she has already had many reasons to love it by then.
“I’ve been teaching ballet or dance for more than 20 years and I love it. It is my passion. Although my own training and teaching is around ballet, I love that hip-hop dance evolved from street dance and involves a sense of free movement and high energy. It’s so accessible, the music is trendy and appealing to both boys and girls. Not to mention that our hip-hop teacher, Robyn Hofmeyr, is fantastic.”
She said she has always been at the centre when it comes to the celebration of Women’s Day because it holds a special place in her heart and that is why she does it every year.
“I have worked very hard to achieve my own growth as a strong, independent woman and business owner. I believe that the whole dance industry – ballet in particular – has been one of the pioneering forces in the inclusivity, acceptance and promotion of all regardless of orientation or gender and increasing awareness of diversity is growing in the ballet world which is something I also feel very strongly about.”
Townshend chose a hip-hop dance workshop to mark Women’s Day because she wanted an approach that screams diva and is never dull. “There is a notion that celebrating a special day for women is now redundant. However, I think we still have a way to go. My small celebration every year is around the beautiful girls that I teach and interact with daily and their amazing mothers who sacrifice so much for the betterment of their children. I hope that I am a role model in some way or another and that the training they receive ultimately gives them opportunity and freedom of choice one day.”
She said she opened her dance studio in Lonehill in 2022 having had a short hiatus from her previous 15-year stint as a studio owner. “We have grown from strength to strength and now have an amazing permanent home at The Prison Break Market in Glenferness. It is such a vibrant location and I am so grateful for our beautiful space and for being able to offer an even better service to our valued students and their families.
“We do an annual stage production but as our studio involves school-going children we do not do paid performances. Our hip-hop teacher Robyn Hofmeyr and acrobatic teacher Jaden Finch are both accomplished performers but I am way too old for that. I love teaching very small children of two and a half to five years old –seeing the joy as they move and master their little steps. I also have a huge passion for teaching adult students – either grown-ups who danced in their youth and who want to revisit that joy – or complete beginners who wish that they had danced as children. It’s one of my favourites.”
Townshend said she has many reasons why she loves the dance floor – ‘the aura of mystery and ethereal quality that is achieved by years of training and practice; the illusion of flight and of something superhuman, achieved by sheer athleticism; the incredible feats that dancers these days achieve onstage are truly mind-blowing’.
And then there is the music, she said. ” It’s possible to immerse yourself in the music whilst you are dancing and either find a sense of calm and peace, energy and fire or of solace or relief. Dance is a form of therapy and is also great for brain function. Having said that, I love all my classes, the individual personalities and the parents who make it all possible.”
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