FLATFOOT said it has had a long relationship of exchange with ACE and this has culminated in one of their dancers, Mthoko Mkhwanazi, being invited for a one-year residency with their professional company. Mthoko Mkhwanazi has been invited for a one-year residency with a professional dance company in the UK. Picture: Supplied.
Durban - A KwaMashu dancer, who is part of Durban’s FLATFOOT dance company, has been invited for a one-year residency with ACE dance and music based in Birmingham in the UK.
FLATFOOT said it had a long relationship of exchange with ACE and this had culminated in one of their dancers, Mthoko Mkhwanazi, being invited for a one-year residency with their professional company.
The company said Mkhwanazi leaves mid-September and is both overwhelmed by the opportunity but also up for the challenge.
Mkhwanazi said: “I feel so humbled to have been asked to spread my dance wings like this and I know that I will carry the flag of both FLATFOOT and of South Africa. I am ready for this opportunity to grow my skills as a dancer and really thank ACE for inviting me”.
Mkhwanazi comes from KwaMashu and started dancing with FLATFOOT in early January 2010 in its KwaMashu community project, the Siyakhula Dance Programme.
In 2011 he was selected to travel with FLATFOOT to Zimbabwe for a culture exchange with CHIPAWO.
In 2013 he was selected for the dance company’s inaugural career path and skills development programme called the Advanced Dance Development programme.
In 2019, he was invited to join the main FLATFOOT company as a full-time professional dancer and has done work with Lliane Loots, Sifiso Khumalo, Jabu Siphika and worked with recent guest choreographers to the company Fana Tshabalala, Yaseen Manuel and Vincent Mantsoe.
Artistic director of FLATFOOT, Lliane Loots said, “This is an amazing opportunity for Mthoko. The company will miss him and his unfailing work ethic but this is a chance to stretch and grow that many dancers only dream about. I am humbled that FLATFOOT’s long years of community engagement work can have an outcome like this; that a young dancer can rise and triumph in this way”.
ACE dance and music is a touring company based in Birmingham, UK, and recognised leaders in the field of contemporary African and Caribbean dance.
Iona Wait, ACE’s rehearsal director and education officer, said: “Mthoko is going to breathe new life into our work – we are so excited to have him!”.