Local dancer heads to the Big Apple

Ms Dorcus Relebogile Malatjie, the daughter of the Tembisa Theatre guru and television actor Mr Oupa China Malatjie, jets off to New York on September 25.

She will be performing with the University of Pretoria’s Ovuwa.

Ms Malatjie, together with Ovuwa, will perform in no less than 20 shows in New York, Massachusetts, Harvard University, Boston and schools in the US before returning on October 14.

This 24-year-old was groomed by her father as a dancer and actress at the Tswelopele Performing Artists.

She will perform all nine traditional dances of South Africa.

Dorcus takes this trip as a celebration of her final year at the University of Pretoria, where she is studying a B.Ed Degree.

She said the trip to perform in New York came at the right time, as she will celebrate her birthday on September 27, in the United States.

“I am so excited. I thank my father for believing in me and for developing a love of performing arts in me through the Tswelopele Performing Artists,” she said.

Her father, Mr Oupa Malatjie, said he was not surprised that his daughter is leaving for America to perform the nine traditional dances from South African ethnic groups.

“I saw it coming, she is a star. I groomed my daughter and she performs miracles on stage. Dorcus is a young girl who is focused and disciplined.

“She has won lots of awards as a student and also as a dancer at the University of Pretoria,” he said.

“I can stand on top of the mountain and tell the whole world that Dorcus is my daughter. She is my pride. Like father, like daughter,” he said.