28 Jun 2016

A total of 155 dancers who attended Botswana Dance Sport Association (BODANSA) national competitions in Francistown were a marvel to watch.

The dancers were competing on different categories such as juvenile, junior, youth and adult.

 Those who got positions one to six in each category won trophies and certificates.

Even though the show started a bit late, the dancers did not disappoint the fans as they were energetic and eager to show their moves.

In an interview, BODANSA vice president-technical, Alfred Rantlheng, said the competitions were the first though the intention was to make them an annual event.

He said the idea was to nurture talent and take kids out of the streets as well as to raise awareness to those who did not understand the sport well.

The official said over the years, the sport had grown and extended to villages such as Maunatlala and Ghanzi.

“We had participants from both schools and clubs and winners of the final competitions can have a chance to make it to the national team or be recommended to represent the country outside looking at their best performances,” he added.

He noted that the success of the dancer was judged by how many times they won the competitions in a year citing that if a dancer participated in four competitions in a year and won all of them it gave him/her a chance to participate at a higher level.

Rantlheng said they had many dancers representing schools but the numbers were fluctuating.

“This impacts on the dancers’ performance. If they miss the competitions, they may be disqualified for some time and some might end up losing interest,” he added.

He further said the clubs were also struggling to attract sponsors and encouraged parents to support their children by instilling a sense of hard work. Ends