Katlehong dancers win big in Europe

The group members came out as one of the top winners from a total of 4 000 other competitors.

“They are over the moon,” said Jerry Zwane, the group’s choreographer and managing director.

“I am very grateful for my dancers; I have been working with many of them for over 10 years and they continue to stay humble.

“It was a difficult journey to get to where we are today, some of our dancers even gave up pursuing decent jobs to focus on the dancing.”

The dancers are between the ages of 18 and 26 years old.

Zwane calls what his dancers do “cocktail township dancing” with a mix of tap dance, pantsula and kwaito.

Taxido was a community initiative by Zwane together with the talented young people of Katlehong, Thokoza and Vosloorus.

“The dancers have made performance art their way of living,” said Zwane.

“Currently the group consists of 26 senior members and 24 juniors, of which most of them are orphans and survivors of various abuses.

The group was established in July of 2003 and the aim was to work with the communities in shifting the mindset of young people from the trauma of violence and corruption, restore hope and dignity, build youth solidarity in the area, and develop enduring partnership with the community members and hostel dwellers.

“We are an organisation that was formed to give hope to the youngsters in the community,” added Zwane.

“Our vision is to one day launch a performing theatre in Katlehong for our youth.

“One of our missions is to assist the youth to move away from the bad aspects of life and pursue excellence in their chosen art form.

“We’d like to thank the National Lottery, the Department of Arts and Culture of Gauteng as well as the National Arts Council for their support.

For more information on Taxido Arts Productions email taxidoarts@gmail.com or go to www.taxidoarts.co.za.