Fifteen-year-old dancer leaps onto the international stage

“Dancing is like a mixture of sport and art.” This is the view of the 15-year-old dancer Shae Murphy.

The Charter College learner remembered being a little girl and her grandmother taking her to watch a ballet show at the theatre. It was love at first step. She started ballet classes when she was three and stopped when she was eight. She moved on to hip hop, modern, contemporary and jazz. “I left ballet because it is more restricted. I started hip hop dancing when I was eight, and I fell in love with it.”

Shae said she danced her first solo at nine, and received the highest score at her studio. She has been on a journey to greatness ever since. In 2019, she took part in the Talent Africa competition in South Africa, and qualified to go to New York to compete in Talent America. Talent Africa consists of provincial and national rounds culminating in a final international competition. Shae was awarded the Best Technique in her age group. In New York she received first place, two second places and third place. “There were also talent scouts at that competition and I was scouted to work on a cruise, but I couldn’t go because of my school work. It would have been amazing though,” said the talented dancer.

The Grade 9 learner enters the Gauteng Dance Festival every year and she is currently in the ‘Champs’ category, which is the highest level in the province. “In 2019 I received full colours for dancing, and at the beginning of this year at the Talent Africa competition, one of my dance pieces had the highest score in the competition. I qualified to go to England later this year.” She did three pieces; contemporary solo, a lyrical group dance, and a contemporary group dance.

She admitted that she enjoyed contemporary dancing the most. “Lyrical is a bit similar to ballet in that it has its restrictions. Contemporary is freeing; the moves are abstract and the lines are abstract. You can express yourself a lot more.”

Shae practises six days a week for two to three hours; however, she admitted that juggling her dance regimen with her school work could be challenging. “The school is very understanding,” she explained. “If I have a competition during school hours, they assist me and sometimes I have Zoom classes with my teachers, especially if it’s a subject that I struggle with.”

Shae said her dream is to be part of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. “When we were in New York, we did a site tour and got to see their studios. They have summer programmes and ideally I would love to participate in those and see where that leads me. I look up to the Alvin Ailey dancers, my dance teacher, and Briar Nolet from World of Dance. She is amazing. I wrote my Afrikaans essay on her,” she smiled