First established in 2015 by Gemma and Mathew Marinus, Born To Perform aims to give young people a platform to showcase their talent and polish it for professional stages.
This year’s cast worked together in harmony, from song to choreography. The performers were made up of learners from Fourways High School, Mondeor High School, Curro Aurora, Stageworx School of Performing Arts, St Vincent School for the Deaf as well as Born To Perform alumni.
The first performance to receive a standing ovation from the audience was that of singer John Tsenoli who was joined by the Mondeor High School choir. Tsenoli’s Long road had the audience dancing and singing along. Tsenoli said that he was excited to perform with the Mondeor High choir, “It’s been such an honour workshopping stuff with them and just seeing how excited and passionate they are to be part of Born To Perform. Working with them has been awesome.”
In a touching performance from Thembeka Mnguni, The Voice SA finalist opened up about her autistic child and being bullied about her weight growing up. “[My son] looks at me and I know that he has my back. There was a time when I was going through a lot and he would just wipe my tears and give me a comforting look,” said Mnguni.
She added that no matter how you look or what condition you have, just should remember that you are worth it. Mnguni performed Children will listen alongside Yahto Kraft from the current season of The Voice SA and St Vincent School for the Deaf.
Kraft blew away the audience with his song Ugly. He opened up about the reason behind the song, “I went out one night with my friends and I met this boy, we clicked and kissed.” But is all came crashing down the next day when the boy said kissing him was a mistake and then called him ‘ugly’.
Kraft’s performance showed off his self-confidence and turned those hurtful words into a banging song.
Creator of Born To Perform Gemma Marinus explained the aim of the organisation to Fourways Review, “It was always our dream to provide a safe place for the youth to explore their diversity and build confidence through arts education and we have achieved that with our school Stageworx.
“To now see this dream explode on stage at the magical Teatro is very overwhelming, especially with the feedback and response we have received.
She added that she is immensely proud of all the young people involved. “[They] worked tirelessly for months leading up to the show and were brave in talking through their difficulties and owning their differences.
“Their dedication and commitment are to be admired and for those that choose a career in this wonderful world of the arts, it stands them in good stead. A show like this cannot happen without a team of immensely brilliant people and we have been so blessed to have a team of genius warriors behind us, backstage, on stage, on production, on creation. We are blessed.”
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