Highlights and reflections on childhood memories, perspectives and experiences on dance training, experience, exposure and access to creative forms of expression that continue to influence the kinetic poetry in my dance.
Musa Hlatswayo
Musa Hlatshwayo was born and raised in Maphumulo; a rural area not far from King Shaka ’s grave in KwaDukuza. He is a performing artist, choreographer and creative/artistic director of his own company; Mhayise Productions. Some of his major achievements include the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance for the year 2018, an honorary Award ‘The Eric Shabala Dance Champion Award’ by the CCA and Jomba in recognition of his contribution to the development of dance in KZN, KZN Dancelink’s Choreographer of the Year in 3 consecutive years, and extensive tours in Africa, Europe and America. Musa holds a BA Honours in Performance Studies (UKZN), an undergraduate certificate in Contemporary Dance and Choreography from the Copenhagen School of Modern Dance and a post-graduate certificate in Dance in Education from UKZN. His work is studied in various tertiary education and training institutions where he continues to appear as a guest lecturer, exam moderator and creative researcher. Musa’s speciality is in researching creating, staging and producing cutting-edge and socially-conscious contemporary dance theatre and environmentally friendly multidisciplinary site-specific work. He also facilitates engaging creative workshops in arts festivals, schools and alternative or creative learning spaces where he fuses Afrocentric (conventional and non-conventional) approaches to performative contemporary and cultural and artistic expression that sees voice and body as one.