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Theo Ndindwa, Product Owner
 


Ikapa Dance Group

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Theo Ndwindwa almost literally danced his way out of poverty.

Growing up in Gugulethu, one of the black townships on the outskirts of Cape Town, after football practice, Theo used to look in on the dance classes staged at his local school.
He was intrigued and, in next to no time, was hooked on dancing. The classes were held by Phyllis Spira, one of the grande dames of South African dance. She spotted Theo’s talents and soon he was studying at the University of Cape Town’s Ballet School. That led Theo to London where he honed his craft at some of Britain’s most famous dance schools.

Theo spent five-and-a-half years in Britain, in which time he toured the country extensively, acquiring skills as a dancer and as a choreographer (plus a wife, fellow dancer Tanya Arshamian). In 2007 the young couple decided to return to South Africa, with the dream of creating their own, uniquely African neo-classical dance company. The result was the iKapa Dance Group, now based at the New Space Theatre in Cape Town’s bustling Long Street, a busy dining and entertainment destination.

IKapa, Theo says, is quite unlike any other dance company in South Africa. “We’re a young organisation run by young people. Our dancing is young, inspired and energetic; a lot like us really.”

Recently Harold King, a South African who founded two ballet schools in England, was quoted as saying of Theo: “He’s an enigmatic, fabulous dancer. He’s modest and he’s got integrity.”
Still only 26, it’s not easy to get modest Theo to recount his fledgling company’s achievements but he is obviously proud of the business he and Tanya have created, and the fact that the company is already creating “a lot of jobs in a very different way”.

Another reason Theo should be proud of the business is its Imbewu yeKapa programme; one of two legs to iKapa, the other being the professional company.

Theo has never lost sight of the fact that it was thanks to Phyllis Spira and her husband Philip Boyd and their Dance 4 All outreach that he took his first steps on a career that led him to London and now to owning his own company. Through Imbewu yeKapa (the “seeds of the Cape”), iKapa is returning the favour, training youngsters in the townships of Gugulethu, Khayelitsha, Nyanga, Langa and Philippi, giving lessons and identifying talented dancers who, it is hoped, will be able to join the professional company and forge their own careers in the dance world. At any one time, more than 200 youngsters are put through their paces by Imbewu yeKapa’s team of dedicated professional dancers.

Recently iKapa has performed at the FNB Dance Umbrella in Johannesburg and at the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees in Oudtshoorn and the company is busy rehearsing a new production choreographed by Andile Sotiya, an acclaimed young South African who lectures in contemporary dance in England. That production is due to be held at the Artscape Theatre Centre in July 2009.

Theo is hoping that the production will go on to tour Johannesburg and Durban. And he has big dreams, of one day taking iKapa around the world. “We’re a South African company, sure, but we cater for an international audience. We want the world to see our unique style of contemporary African dance,” he says.

A new business that still struggles to secure sufficient funding, iKapa, Theo says, appreciates the “amazing” opportunity TEP has afforded the company by including it in its Cape Town Cluster programme. “Being part of TEP is giving us the exposure to sectors we never had exposure to before,” he says. “It’s helping us get to international audiences, which is a fantastic advantage.”

Soon, Theo predicts, iKapa will take its dazzling dancing to wider audiences, perhaps in shopping malls, perhaps at open-air performances in places like Cape Town’s Greenmarket Square. But, uniquely, visitors are welcome to simply drop by the studio at the New Space Theatre (44 Long Street) to watch the dancers rehearse.
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