Viva Las Vegas Pantsula to Gumboots South Africa Comes to Vegas
Michael Moloi and Sifiso Mavuso are featured in "LOVE," Cirque du Soleil's new show set entirely to Beatles music. The men have two things in common: they hail from South Africa and they live and breathe street dancing.
Sifiso's fascination with street dances began as a ten-year-old. He followed some friends, climbed over a brick wall and watched, fascinated. Three years later he joined Soweto Dance Theatre. "My mother was like, first of all, she didn't approve of it...just because she didn't want me out late at night, you know. I don't think it was the dancing she hated. But after awhile she saw that I was getting serious and I was getting into it and she just let me be."
Michael started dancing at family gatherings, a style called pantsula. "Pantsula is a township dance. It's very character-related. It's like popping and locking. Pantsula comes from the culture. It's not just the music. It's the way the people dress, the way the people talk. It's really a style of its own from South Africa. It's really a street-orientated movement."
By the time Cirque du Soleil showed up in South Africa to hold auditions, Michael and Sifiso were veteran dancers and confident of their abilities. Michael said, "They came to South Africa and there were like thousands of dancers doing different styles. So I attended together with my crew. There were like nine of us, and we were doing our gumboots and pantsula tap...Whenever I dance, I just express myself. My movements, I want people to see them here in my feet, what I do with my feet, with my body. I want them to feel it."
Sifiso said, "I went in by myself. I didn't go in with anyone else and it was probably the longest audition I've done. In South Africa, it's like a very small industry so after awhile you're working with people you know, so we don't audition as much. There are aud-itions but not on a scale like they are here. So I ended up auditioning for three days...I thought it was never going to end."
And in a sense, it didn't. It just shifted from days of auditions to months of rehearsals, rehearsals where the men had to learn some difficult new dance styles. Michael said, "It is hard man. It is hard because now you're trying to adapt, you're trying to work hard in whatever he or she teaches you, you know. You're trying to make it the best but you're finding out that it's not happening the way it must be. Just doing it but in your own way, which is not good."
"It is very, very difficult when you're getting like a negative response, but it should be negative because if you're not doing good, you're not doing good. But it's very, very hard, more especially if you've never learned dances like that before, which is difficult for your mind to adapt. You're like, 'What is this? What am I doing? Let me try it again.' And then you're doing the very same thing. You're like, 'I'm going to quit now.'"
But "quit" isn't in their vocabulary; "adaptability" is. Sifiso said, "But that's the challenge I guess. Just to be able to adjust yourself and your body to an alien sort of thing that you're not used to."
"I would say if you really want to go forward with dancing, it's important to open your mind to the different types of dancing there is. I don't think you should put yourself in just one specific type of dance and say, 'I'm a ballerina' or 'I'm a street dancer.'...I met like a lot of dancers who're just doing this for the technical or the street, and there's always a clash, which I fail to understand. Just be as open-minded as you can about your dance and just learn all the dances that you can."
The result is a fast-paced stomping, jumping, clapping, staccato number expertly performed in bright yellow boots. There's not a single moment to catch a breath...or to hide in the back. All angles of their technique can be scrutinized.
Michael explained, "Sometimes, you know, when you perform in the show, there's times when you don't put out yourself as much because there's a point of focus or you don't have to put in as much in the show. You're a part of everything all the time. Once you enter, there are people right there on the side watching you. You cannot hide in the back. That's the challenge. You have to entertain 360. I'm starting to like it now."
Good thing, because Vegas has taken to pantsula and bright yellow gumboots like a duck to water. Michael and Sifiso may be around for a while.