"It's about giving young people living with disabilities a chance to explore potential that they have not before"
To mark ten years of the Enable Through Dance programme, learners with disabilities took centre stage with professional dancers from the Moving Into Dance non-profit company at the Keorapetse William Kgositsile Theatre at the University of Johannesburg Arts Centre on the weekend.
The programme, established in 2016, works with over 160 learners from several schools and organisations across Johannesburg. They use dance and movement to give young people with disabilities opportunities for creative expression, while building their confidence and self-esteem.
Moving Into Dance, based in Newtown, was established in 1978 by Sylvia Glasser. As one of only a few mixed-race dance groups at the time, it used dance as cultural resistance against the apartheid regime.
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The anniversary performance at the weekend was open to the public free of charge.
Nadia Virasamy, CEO of Moving Into Dance, said the programme started with the organisation having to reconsider its own understanding of dance and disability.
Virasamy said this was challenging for a professional dance company whose work had traditionally focused on particular ideas of physical ability and movement.
"It isn't about ability or disability, it's about inclusivity," she said. "It's about giving young people living with disabilities a chance to explore this potential that they have not before."
Moving Into Dance brings in specialists to work with the dancers and facilitators. The programme eventually became a weekly initiative in schools and organisations around Johannesburg.
The project offers more than simply teaching dance techniques, said Virasamy. She has seen young people become more confident and comfortable when interacting with people.
"There's no demarcation about who can do what within the space," she said. "It's everybody together embracing this beautiful art form we call dance."
One of the dancers, 29-year-old Tebogo Lelaletse, is from the North West and uses a wheelchair. He started dancing in 2019 with Unmute Cape Town before joining the Moving Into Dance company.
He said dance has given him a way to tell stories and express emotions without having to rely on speech.
"Sometimes I feel like when I'm speaking, everybody's muting you," he said. "So, it's better if you talk through movement."
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Lelaletse also encouraged other people with disabilities to explore their talents in spite of their fears.
"Whatever gift we have, let's use it," he said.
Professional dancer Lesego Dihemo, who teaches learners at Johannesburg School for Autism, said she initially struggled because she had no experience of working with autistic learners.
Dihemo was trained through the Enable Through Dance programme and also did her own research about autism and seeking advice from teachers at the school.
She said the experience changed her as both a teacher and a dancer.
"When you are with the kids, you find the love, the laughter, you become free," she said. "Your creativity just opens up with them."
She said she has also developed a better understanding of what inclusive practice really means.
