DYLAN Botes’ enthusiasm and passion for the art of dance has led him to take part in this year’s Shall We Dance performances.
The Inchanga resident is currently home-schooled and after school trains in one of the many forms of dance. He practices ballroom at Rosemary Wingrove and at Dance Basics he covers Latin dance. The rest of his dancing is done at the KZN Dance Centre in Kloof. He also taught himself fire dancing which he does to earn pocket money.
The most recent competition he took part in was for ballroom at the Azalea Festival in Pietermaritzburg during August where he competed with his dance partner, Jordyn Alford. His Latin dance partner is Katherine Anderson. To ensure that he is always ready to take the floor, he trains for about 15 hours per week and most afternoons goes straight from school to dance and only arrives home late in the evening.
He started dancing when he was 10-years-old. “My parents were dancing socially and I watched them and that was when I decided that I wanted to start as well,” said Dylan. “It is the love of being able to express myself through dance, the love for the music and for being on the floor.”
In December he will travel to New York for two weeks with nine other avid dancers from the KZN Dance Centre. Once there, he will take part in as many lessons and gain as much international dance knowledge as possible. “I will also do tours around the top dance schools,” said an excited Dylan. In 2020 he is hoping to return to the Big Apple and audition for So You Think You can Dance.
Dylan excels in fire dancing, Latin, ballroom, hip hop, ballet, contemporary, tap, modern, break dancing and he also dabbles in a bit of jazz. His all-time favourite style of dance is contemporary. “It’s the freedom of movement and expression and is all very loose and emotional. There are no set steps or choreography, it’s all just free motion.”
When he is not on the dance floor he can be found hiking through the Valley of 1000 Hills or shredding the ice at the Durban ice rink.
“I would like to thank my parents for putting up with my dance, my hobby, as it is a life’s passion of mine and their support means so much to me,” said a humbled Dylan.
