A young Eastridge dance crew is hard at work perfecting their Gqom moves to participate in this year’s regional SA Clothing and Textile Workers Union’s (Sactwu) Own Talent Competition later this year, which forms part of the annual Spring Queen competition.
Young Guccis, including boys aged 10 to 12, are being kept busy with dance rehearsals from Monday to Friday, in Willow Street, Eastridge.
Instructor, Muneer Dirks, 18, said he was approached by one of the boys’ grandmother, Amelia Botha, to train the boys and keep them off the streets.
Preliminary rounds will be at Industria House, 350 Victoria Road in Salt River, every Friday starting July 20, for three consecutive weeks. The knock-out rounds will be on Friday August 31 and Friday September 7, with the Spring Queen semi-finals.
Muneer is known for his dance abilities, which are often displayed on the streets.
He said it was important to get the boys together daily to prevent them from forgetting the moves.
Muneer said gqom dancing is a mixture of kwaito and free styling.
The word gqom, is a derivative from an onomatopoeic combination of click consonants from the languages isiZulu and isiXhosa representing a hitting drum.
The style features grandavy and bass beats produced with software such as FruityLoops and has gained prominence in London.
Fachmy Abrahams, coordinator of the competition, said it was a platform created by the union for members or their dependants to display their talent as part of their Spring Queen Festival.
The talent competition final will coincide with the festival at Athlone Stadium on Saturday November 10.
