From the outside, the venue looks a bit drab and gloomy: an off-white hall behind prison-like fencing. To be honest, the interior is not much more cheerful.
From the outside, the venue looks a bit drab and gloomy: an off-white hall behind prison-like fencing. To be honest, the interior is not much more cheerful.
However, for many this venue offers an alternative to nights at home.
The music, lights and chatter draw young and old, who either sit on the sidelines and watch or sweep across the floor, in time to the music and the instructions of Babalwa Sokapase.
This is the newly emergent A+ School of Dance, a non-profit organization, which offers ballroom and Latin-American dancing to juveniles, youth and adults.
Sokapase, who has been dancing since 2009, was pushed by friends to open a dance school, which she now runs every week night from 5.30-7.30 at the Albany Recreation Hall in Grahamstown.
For many this offers a welcome alternative and the school has grown from 6 pupils to nearing 40 at the time the story was photographed.
Not simply something to pass the time with, Sokapase has enrolled her pupils in both regional and national competitions. In the competitions earlier this year – the Durban World Trials and the Buffalo City Regionals – the A+ School of Dance walked away with 14 trophies and 40 medals.
Though the activity in the hall may seem chaotic and un-coordinated at times, there is no question that Sokapase is in charge. Her admonishments are taken in silence and her dancing instructions do not go unheeded.
A word here, a remark there and chins are lifted, feet fly and arms are held correctly.
Whilst most of the school’s pupils come from the surrounding community, there are some that come from further afield. Phani Madubela travels from Extension 9 by taxi for every practice.
Madubela heard about the school from his dance partner, Zandile Mzizi, and is now an enthusiastic pupil.
Though the school hasn’t had it easy – from lack of money to having no fixed venue – they certainly step up as is evidenced by their impressive array of trophies and medals.
The A+ School of Dance is a dancing school in its own right and has achieved what few could in the same time.
