Breaking
Dance
5 South African Dance Styles Explained
Learn more about some of the street dance styles dancers showcase at Red Bull Dance Your Style
Part of this story
Dancing is a lifestyle in South Africa. People are defined by it, by their chosen style… Or by the style that chooses them. It comes as naturally as breathing - people aren’t told how, when or where to dance – it just happens. Thanks to this deep-rooted culture, our local dance is versatile and energetic. And also deeply meaningful. As a people, we are strongly connected to the music, moves and fashion that make our local dance styles unique. Some of these styles are setting trends globally, but for us South Africans, that’s not where the importance lies.
“Our country has a rich and diverse heritage in dance,” says Teboho “Tebza” Diphehlo, 2021 Red Bull Dance Your Style SA National Final Wildcard and 2019 World Final finalist. “It is often used as a form of day-to-day expression and to celebrate the past and the present.”
Read on to learn more about some of the unique forms of expression that make up our country's rich dance tapestry:
IsiPantsula
IsiPantsula is a South African energetic dance style that emerged in the 1950s and 1960s, as a response to forced removals implemented by the Apartheid Government. The dance style was born in two townships in Johannesburg, Alexandra and Sophiatown, and has an interesting technique based around on-the-spot rhythmic footwork. The dance style is quick-stepping, with a distinct influence of tap dancing, blended with everyday gestures (such as the rolling of dice). Pantsula dancers move to Kwaito and House music, often incorporating an element of whistling. In addition, the fashion and dress are as important as the dance moves in isiPantsula.
IsiPantsula is mostly performed by male dancers, but there is a growing number of female dancers. Dancers such as Tebza Diphehlo, Red Bull Dance Your Style 2021 SA National Final Wildcard, keep isiPantsula alive by teaching the next generation and ensuring that Pantsula fashion remains relevant and moves with the times.
Tebza
© Mpumelelo Macu
Amapiano
Amapiano, Zulu for “The Pianos”, is often referred to as “The Yanos”. Amapiano is a style of House music that emerged in South Africa around 2012. The genre is a combination of deep house, jazz, and lounge music, with a sound easily identified by its high-pitched piano melodies. The emergence of the Amapiano genre sparked the Amapiano dance style. The dance style features quick-step moves and body popping. The Amapiano genre is fast becoming huge all over the world, with social media dancers getting involved in viral trends pioneered by Amapiano dance styles on platforms such as TikTok. Amapiano has created trending dance moves such as ‘the pouncing cat’, ‘the Zekethe’, and the famous ‘Dakiwe challenge.’
Bhenga/Gqom
Gqom is a Zulu word meaning ‘drum’ or ‘hitting a drum.’ Gqom emerged in Durban on the KwaZulu-Natal coast. The genre is a minimal form of House music in which the beats have a raw and repetitive sound. With the Gqom genre came a dance style called Bhenga, where dancers ‘bhenga’ to the repetitive raw beats of Gqom music. The dance style aims to grab the audience’s attention and make the dancer seem flexible. The dance style is characterised by wavy arm movements, toe-tapping, and wobbly knees, requiring proper footwork. Look out for moves such as ‘the gwara-gwara’ and ‘the Vosho’ made famous by ‘Gqom Queen’ Babes Wodumo.
Breaking
Lee-Shane Booysen
© Supplied
Breaking, also referred to as b-boying/girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the United States. Breakdancing mainly consists of four kinds of movement: power moves, toprock, downrock, and freezes. The dance style focuses mostly on moves that are on the ground. Breaking uses songs that contain drum breaks, hip-hop music, funk, and breakbeat music. Breaking is still a relevant dance style in South Africa. Red Bull Dance Your Style South Africa 2019 winner, Lee Shane, is one of the versatile dancers who make breaking look like a breeze.
S’bujwa
Limpopo Boy performs during Red Bull Dance Your Style Roadshow in Limpopo
© Mpumelelo Macu / Red Bull Content Pool
S’bujwa was invented in the 1990s by young experimental dancers from Soweto in greater Johannesburg. S’bujwa is a freestyle dance style incorporating elements of Hip Hop, Jive, and isiPantsula. As time went by (in the 2000s), S’bujwa merged with House music to create its own unique identity. The dance style is very energetic and requires every muscle in the dancer’s body to work to complete the moves. The dance style demands a lot of creativity from dancers. Dancers such as SB have taken S’bujwa to the world. SB is the South African Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final wildcard. He was also part of the Johannesburg roadshow stop this year, giving workshops, and has his own crew called The Tribe that performed at the National Final.
MORE ABOUT RED BULL DANCE YOUR STYLE
RED BULL DANCE YOUR STYLE
Red Bull Dance Your Style does everything differently, the competition seeks to push the dancer to their highest potential. The entertainment aspect of the dancing is much more important than the technique that a dancer has. The audience is engaged throughout the competition and are given the opportunity to be the judges and vote for a dancer that entertains them the most, the dancer/performer has to impress the audience, the aim is to give the audience a good time, all different dance styles from IsiPantsula, Amapiano dance, Hip Hop, Bhenga and Break-dancing can enter the competition. There is no dance without music, the DJs are given free will to play any genre they feel like, this is an element of surprise to the dancer. It takes real creativity to be able to move to any music given to the dancer and the competition wants to show the beauty of that creativity and improvisation.
Part of this story
