Cleopatra Mmakgwetele Hlapolosa, 31, is the founder and director of Kgothalang Dance Academy, an arts institution she established in Soweto’s Dobsonville Gardens. A professional dancer, she is a champion for youth development through performance and discipline. Though she once aspired to be an attorney and enrolled at the University of the Witwatersrand, life redirected her path. After facing academic exclusion in her final year, she completed certificates in IT, early childhood development and entrepreneurship, the latter through the Gordon Institute of Business Science, where she was recognised among the top 10 students. At her academy, she teaches Latin, ballroom, Sesotho traditional and amapiano dance. But the work goes beyond choreography — it is a hub for building dignity, character and leadership. Her classes close with debriefs, life lessons and community prayer. She is a board member of the National Dance Society of South Africa and her students regularly secure podium placements at competitions. Cleopatra is also entrepreneurial, running a security business, a make-up brand and African Beauty Bar, which fuses dance aesthetics with African fashion. She is also involved in anti-GBV advocacy.
Both my parents — my mother and my father. Their life journeys were excruciating, but they held it together. They instilled great values in my family and always taught us the value of hard work. I look in awe at how disciplined, selfless and devoted they are to us and to the community at large. The second person who inspires me is my partner, Syllabus Mogashoa. His journey in life is motivational. I admire his wit and how he motivates me to always reach my goals. He is very supportive of my dance career and motivates me to return and complete my LLB degree soon.