When Beyonce featured the Tofo Tofo dance troupe in her video for “Girl (Who run this world?)” last year, the hype on Pantsula broke loose. Today, you can travel into the heart of Jozi’s streets, and find that there’s more to the dance movement than the video provided by the US superstar. Martin Meissonnier is a music lover, globetrotter and french director, who together with his protégé Maia Barouh, landed in Jo’Burg to explore that new beat, we definitely can be jealous of.
This piece is about rhythm, music and dance – it’s about Pantsula, a ‘tap-and-glide’ style of dance that took root in South Africa during the apartheid. But, Pantsula goes beyond the steps, and it’s more about a way of thinking, and expressing feelings that today’s generation is experiencing. It doesn’t matter whether those feelings are good or bad, the main aim is to express them through dance. ‘Dancing City : Johannesburg’ is a history lesson in motion you’ll learn through steps and beats…
Dancing City : Johannesburg (aired on France Ô , Nov 27th)
Images by: Martin Meissonnier & Christophe Petit
Dance performed by: Skeleton Pantsula
Music by: Khotso Mogotlane
