• SboNdaba dance is a community-based dance company working out of an old Methodist church in Cape Town. Writer Sarah Souli discovers how founder and award-winning dancer and choreographer Sbonakaliso Ndaba’s enthusiasm, dedication, and talent have created a much-needed space for creative expression for youth in townships in a time of high unemployment and low opportunity. 

“We want them to know what dance is. If you have discipline, dance can reshape you.”

In a country with 35% unemployment, and even less opportunities or financial support for creatives, Ndaba has a serious task ahead of her: using dance to uplift and employ South African youth in townships.

Make it stand out.

As a high school student, Ndaba started taking dance classes at a local university. She was good enough to get scouted by Alfred Hinkel and sent to Cape Town, where she worked on the set of “Sarafina!” For ten years, she danced with Jazzart, before leaving to teach in Durban and Johannesburg. “My target was people who have left school but don’t know where to go next,” Ndaba explains. “When I was looking for dancers I would go to the supermarkets and give pamphlets to the old mamas and say “I know you have someone at home who isn’t doing anything.” 

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