Dance is Itu’s dream
17-year-old Reitumetje Leopeng, also known as Itu, is well-known for her brilliant dancing skills and has been a dancer for 13 years.
POLOKWANE – Born in Mokopane, Itu moved to Johannesburg when she was two years old. A year later she attended Alberton Kids Academy in Alberton where she acquired her love for dancing.
“I did quite a lot of aftercare classes as my parents were only able to fetch me after work. Some of these classes were hip hop dancing classes,” she explains.
In 2008, Itu and her family moved back to Limpopo where she would travel daily from Mokopane to Polokwane as she attends school at Mitchell House. This, she says, made her lose her way. “Moving from a place that is full of opportunities to a place that lacked opportunities at the time was difficult for me to deal with but I had to accept it and focus on my schoolwork,” she says.
Itu says she spent a lot of her time in Gr 5 and 6 studying Beyoncé’s choreography to most of her hit songs. “Her fierceness and the way she moved her body fascinated me, I wanted to be just like her,” she exclaims.
Itu says she returned to dancing in Gr 6 when she and her friends had to do a dance for music class which she says rekindled her love for dancing, reminding her of the joy she feels when dancing. She has been a self-taught hip hop dancer since. Growing up an extremely shy child, she says when she started high school, she went through a tough time. However, dancing helped her overcome these hurdles and she says dancing and music changed her life.
“Dance is the only way I can express my feelings and emotions. It is not just a sport to me, it’s my passion,” she says.
Itu says when she dances at school events, she is not doing it for the audience but rather for herself. “As I’m shy, I get a serious adrenaline rush when I get onto the stage and once the music starts, the feeling is extravagant,” she says. Despite being a brilliant dancer, Itu is also involved with drama at Mitchell House and has an alluring presence on stage. She hopes to be able to study drama or performing arts at Rhodes University after completing matric this year as she says the university is excellent when it comes to this field of study. “I will be happy to study anywhere as long as I achieve the degree I want in an area that I can continue learning to dance on a higher level.”
In 10 years’ time, Itu says she wants to make sure she has started to, or already opened up, a dance studio in Polokwane.
“One of the reasons why I’ve stayed self- taught is because there are not many hip hop dance studios in Polokwane. This is a huge gap in the market that I am hoping to one day close,” she said. This dream came about last year after several learners at the college ask her to teach them how to dance at the school. However she was unable to complete dance classes with the learners because of her school workload as she was in Gr 11 at the time.
Whether or not she becomes a choreographer is still something she is considering but says she would restart the classes only once she becomes a qualified choreographer.
