The school where Dane Hurst, star of Rambert dance company, learned to dance was eaten by termites and burned down by children. Thirteen years after he left South Africa, he has returned to the junction of Gelvandale and Helenvale in Port Elizabeth to show me where it was.
What does a child do in all this volatility? Well Dane, he danced. He tells Justin he wants to share this with other young people who want to escape the streets. I’ve recently bought a dance floor over in London and right now as we speak it’s on a ship being sent back here.
In the dance studio what colour you are means nothing. When music plays there are no barriers.
Gobisa believes: “If you are angry or sad or you’re feeling emotional, when you dance those things go.” This is Dane’s aim: to give them a way to survive that isn’t violent, because that’s what saved him.
Photograph by Karl Schoemaker.
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