What began as curiosity has become a story of passion and discipline, as a young white South African teenager brings energy and skill to the Zulu traditional dance known asingoma. Trent ‘Somlungu’ Stanley (16), from Waterfall in KZN, performs shameni, a style ofingomadance. The Grade 10 pupil at Kloof High School was drawn to the ‘rhythm and beat’ of the dance at the age of 11.
Trent says his primary school was hosting a Heritage Day event at the time, where a small group of pupils were to perform the traditional dance. “I was curious and I decided to check out one of the practice sessions. I love all types of music and I was drawn to the rhythm, the sounds and the beat of the dance.
I decided to try it out and within the first practice I nailed the steps and routine. It was then that I decided to join the group and participate in the event,” he explains. Trent says that after his first performance, he was hooked on the dance and continued to practise and perform with the group at school events.
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His breakthrough came in October when a video of him dancing at a heritage event at Danville Park High School was shared on TikTok. “The video went viral. It just blew up.
TikTok users gave me the nicknameSomlungu, which essentially means ‘white person’. When I saw the reaction, I started posting my dances on my own TikTok page,” he says. “I was both shocked and excited because being part of a group meant that I would perform at bigger events and learn how to improve my dance skills,” he says.
Smanga Ngcobo, the leader of his dance group, says Trent caught his eye because he danced with such passion. “The way he performed the dance moves drew me to him. You don’t expect a white person to master the dance. Even now, when we teach him a new dance, he puts all his effort into mastering it,” he adds.Since joining the group, he has participated in five events throughout KZN.
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