Dance is providing a popular option for sport in schools with few or no facilities. Sean O’Connor tracks the beat
According to a survey presented to Parliament last month, 37% of over 27 000 South African schools have no sports facilities. Funds are always scarce and sport is not high on the Department of Education’s list of priorities. This sad lack of opportunity can only be solved by innovative solutions. One such solution might be found in an unlikely place, in a sport which, unknown to many, can even be studied at matric level: dance.
Dancesport is the umbrella term for all forms of dance, including Latin American, ballroom, ballet, traditional African, Indian, contemporary, freestyle, tap and Spanish. As a sport, it needs few resources. It is usually practised indoors, which makes it perfect for winter. According to a dance teacher who spoke to theTeacher, some schools in the Free State even manage to teach dance without sound equipment, as dedicated teachers provide the beat by clapping and singing.
Dancesport is becoming incredibly popular. The BMI Sports Info Register, a national index of television viewer sporting preferences, traced dancesport moving from 45 to 11 on a ratings scale of television viewing popularity over the last two years. It’s everywhere, from Isidingo to the Olympics to MTV. It is also fortunate to benefit from several committed sponsors, such as Rama and Metropolitan Life.
Most dance taught at schools happens at an extra-curricular level, and the focus is social rather than competitive. Usually, a dance teacher will approach a school and offer his or her services for a fee. However, if children express an interest, then a school should seek a dance teacher, or encourage an existing teacher to undertake the necessary training. Talented or dedicated children can join dancesport studios to develop their abilities and compete in local and international competitions.
Gladys Bullock has been teaching dance at schools since 1988. She also spends entire evenings giving classes at Rocklands Civic Centre in Mitchells Plain, and visits DEAFSA and St Giles, where she teaches dance to deaf and blind people as well as those confined to wheelchairs. “Dance is therapy,” she says. “It makes people believe in themselves.” Despite saying she doesn’t teach for self-gain, since losing her job recently Bullock obviously relies upon it for a living. “But what can you do if parents can’t afford it?” she shrugs. “Enough of them pay. I can’t turn a child away. If they want to dance, they’re moving in the right direction.”
Maureen Shargey, who has taught many people “with two left feet to make one right again” for over 35 years, says the sport keeps you fit and builds your confidence. “It also teaches manners and discipline,” she adds, “qualities which take people far in life.” Shargey teaches at several schools in the Cape Peninsula. Her oldest pupil has just turned 100 and is almost totally deaf.
Many schools take on teachers like Shargey and Bullock to teach their matrics how to waltz before the big dance. “People dread their first dance,” says Shargey, “but with a little practice it becomes something that you love. It stays with you for life.”
Kathy Gibbons is national secretary of DanceSport South Africa and teaches dance at East Side College in Troyeville, Johannesburg, and other schools in the city. “You don’t have to have a teacher on the premises to study popular dance as a matric subject,” she says. “Learners graduate through a series of certified levels with dance teachers whose qualifications are recognised by DanceSport South Africa. The school must administer this. There is a registered curriculum, accepted by the minister, which includes theoretical and technical aspects.”
At Muizenberg Primary, where Bullock teaches social dancing every Tuesday afternoon (it costs each pupil R85 per term), girls as young as seven know how to cha-cha, rumba, merengue, mambo, boogie, waltz and foxtrot. Gladys says that “exercising their sense of rhythm really gets the girls enjoying themselves. They get rid of their frustrations.” One regret she has is that there are no boys in the class. She blames the dads, who encourage their boys to play soccer and rugby instead. For this writer, who has lost a few duels on the dance floor and carries an enviable collection of scars from schoolboy rugby, there would be little contest if I had my life again. I’d be on the floor, giving Ricky Martin a run for his money.
Contact Kathy Gibbons at DanceSport South Africa on (011) 397-6434 for advice and assistance
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, June 2001.