Gaming
Dance
Meet the young woman giving wiiings to the South African dance esports
The rise and rise of Malikhoa Shikwane.
In 2019 I was hosting the VS Gaming Masters Stage and Comic Con Africa for the Dota 2 and CSGO Championships. During a technical pause a young woman approached me on the side of the stage. After an informal greeting she immediately went into business mode and asked me outright why South African esports wasn’t focusing on Dance esports. At the time I had no idea there was a competitive dance esports community in the country. I introduced her to some tournament organisers and ran back to the stage. However, I was intrigued. The woman who approached me was only 16 years old, she’d just become the youngest and first African to compete in an international dance gaming tournament after more than a decade. Her name is Malikhoa Shikwane.
Dance. Dance. Revolution
I’ve watched Malikhoa from a far since then, as she decided to lead the charge in growing the South African dance esports community and shining a light on a competitive gaming genre possibly unknown to most tournament organisers and esports fans. She went on to establish Simply African Evolved 1949 - a community that aims to develop and support Dance Gaming Communities around Africa. But how did she find herself competing with the best in the world in a niche that has blossomed from old school Arcades that seem few and far between these days?
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simply_african_evolved1949/
Malikhoa, known as TC19 (check out her YouTube channel) in Dance Dance Revolution, is now 18. She first found her love for dance games at around 5 years old when she visited an arcade in The Waterfall Mall in Rustenburg, close to where she lives. It took a few jumps on some lit up arrows and the young girl was hooked. When she turned 13 and was allowed access to social media she was able to connect with dance gaming enthusiasts around the world. In 2019 she competed in Girlspocalypse, an international gance gaming tournament for In The Groove (a dance gaming title).
The qualifying rounds took place over two-and-a-half-months. Competitors are sent song courses and then need to submit their scores and pictures or videos of them competing at a venue where a dance machine could be accessed.
In these competitions the focus is on technical dance styles and divided into three divisions, namely Stamina, Speed and Timing. Malikhoa competed against other dancers from the USA, France, Russia, Turkey, Australia, Sweden, Italy, Chile and the UK. At the end of the qualifiers 12 competitors were selected to compete at the finals in Paris in August 2019. The young South African qualified for finals in second place, making her the youngest competitor in the entire tournament and the first African, to make the finals. She arrived in Paris and claimed two second places in both stamina and speed as well as a third place for timing.
While the incredible achievements of Malikhoa should be celebrated, it is the 18 year old’s drive to build the small community she has found locally. Following her international experience she decided to find ways to help other Dance Game fanatics to find one another on the continent. She set up Simply African Evolved 1949 to assist future African Dance Gamers to have access to the necessary resources they need to improve their craft. The community has put together content around arcades in South Africa and how to create your own set up at home, among other things. Her plan is to move overseas to compete at regular international events but wants to continue with her projects locally, aiming to return home and teach other gamers as well as building Simply African Evolved 1949 into a gaming business. For the last 10 years her focused goal is to become the first African player to participate in Dance-Dance Revoltuion’s Konami’s Arcade Championship. Her passion for dance gaming and Africa shine through every time she discusses her future plans:
“I want to inspire people within my ethnicity to create legacies within the international dance gaming scene. Because of how diverse, creative, vibrant, colourful and cheerful Africans are when it comes to expressing arts and culture in sports or gaming, I feel like Africa can create stories that haven’t existed before. I don’t think it is only myself with my passion that can inspire the continent. I really believe The Future is Africa! Dance Gaming deserves everyone’s attention because it is more than just stomping arrows!”
