07 Aug 2023

Mike N MsTi Dance Academy has set its sight to providing professional level dance training and a rich cultural exchange through art.

Located in Molapo Crossing, Gaborone, the academy is the brainchild of Tshepiso ‘MsTi’ Montsho and Olebogeng ‘Mike’ Montsho, and was born in 2013 with a strong conviction that dance carried psychological benefits and had could bring peaceful healing.

The duo established the academy to help individuals develop deep self-esteem, discipline, self-expression, cooperation and leadership skills.

Speaking to BOPA in an interview, Tshepiso said she started dancing aged seven, when her mother introduced her to ballroom dance as a means of discipline and character building and at 13, she formed her own dance club at school which led to her first competition in Francistown.

“My first international competition was in Rumba, that is where I got my first dance certificate and that meant the whole world to me as I did not have those many opportunities to be awarded such in those days due to the absence of professional dance schools in the country,” said Tshepiso.

She further explained that after her mother who had been her backbone passed on, she could not handle the pain and ended up isolating herself from the world and even stopped dancing for a while, until she found hope and courage to get back to dancing as a healing mechanism.

“I decided to get back to dancing and teaching children to dance as part of my healing from the grief I had locked up in my heart, and in 2015 I met my partner ‘Mike’ with whom I had the liberty to start Mike N MsTi dance academy,” added Tshepiso.

Tshepiso explained that their dance skills range from, but not limited to, Latin & American Ballroom Dance, Afro-Latin (Salsa, Kizomba and Bachata) Hip Hop.

Mike as he is popularly known, said their professional journey had been like a non-stop rollercoaster ride and full of challenges especially since dance was not considered a professional career path in Botswana.

“Dance plays an essential role in a person’s character development and I know from experience growing up as an orphan, dancing has helped me to become a better person,” said Mike.

He said their students had taken part in international dance competitions dubbed Rumba in the Jungle in South Africa and brought home more than 100 trophies and medals after having won positions one to seven.

“Achieving this success across many categories really underlines the commitment and dedication of both pupils and our team, it shows the standard of merit our academy holds,” added Mike.

Mike explained how the academy had reached out to many of the orphaned children and widowed women who needed social support and strength under the BinangBasadi programme.

He said the programme was a commitment to give back to the community and promote mental and psychological health in the country especially that there were high numbers of passion killings and depression cases that could be avoided with such sessions that opened up the mind to refreshment.

“With BinangBasadi and BinangGents, we train young men how to handle and control their emotions around women, how to protect and solve family issues whilst the women are taught anger management and leadership skills,” said Mike.

Mike and MsTi have been in the industry for 10 years now and they are currently running a Sa-Ki-Ba dance weekend that started Thursday and will end Sunday with special guests from South Africa, Ntlhatlha Vikwua a Radio presenter and Afro Latin Dance artist, Pule Seleki a Salsa and Agentine tango dance artist, lastly Dj PAT AL who is an international soulful House Salsa DJ.

Meanwhile the academy is preparing for the international dance competitions that will be held in South Africa, November. Ends