The Prederite (The African Cypher)

[David Morris]

http://vimeo.com/43178378

"I dance as if I have a gun to my head." – Mada Sthembiso (Shakers&Movers).

Street dance in South Africa is a complex, convoluted underworld that, like
most sub-cultures, exists as a sum of its participants. In Mapetla, Soweto,
if you steal phones and hand bags you will not live long. The community
will kill you. If you do a heist, they will tell the police you are not
there-- Prince tells me this as we walk back to Mada’s place from the shisa
nyama (an informal outdoor fire where you can buy some meat to cook and
drink a beer.)

Prince is a pantsula. He used to be a tsotsi, a gangster, a thug. Today he
walks his streets with pride; he is a pantsula dancer and a little bit
famous. Tom London from Soweto’s Finest says, “When we dance we find
purpose with our bodies." Prince, strolling down the dusty street with his
fluid movement, a little trouble in his hat and a slight swagger, is
perhaps the embodiment of that sentiment. When he dances on the street
corner with Mada, the kids, the tsotsi’s, the mama’s, the unemployed and
the hustlers all stop to watch him. I always wonder how it must feel to
have that power residing right inside you. No props, no burning hoops–
nothing. Whatever this dance thing is, it is beautifu; part circus/part
soul. No matter the context or style. We all ultimately dance for an
audience of one.
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