Londiwe Khoza: Dancing Across the Continents
Londiwe Khoza was five years old when she was first introduced to the world of ballet. At a late 1990s’ production of “Swan Lake,” she was struck by the contrast between reality and fiction––the ballerina, so full of strength and power, yet able to portray the delicate Swan Princess being rescued by Prince Siegfried. Khoza quickly decided that she wanted to do exactly the same.
“To me she was almost flying!” Khoza explained over email. “She possessed the power to move people to tears, to inspire and bring people joy. To tell a story or make people ‘feel,’ without having to say a single word. And I think that’s really what drew me to not only the ballet world, but the dance world in general.”
Khoza began dancing soon after that.
Her training began with classical ballet and Greek dance styles. She added modern and hip hop to her repertoire three years later, and then contemporary dance a few years after that. At the age of 13, she joined the Cape Junior Ballet Company in her hometown of Cape Town, South Africa, and occasionally performed alongside members of the Cape Town City Ballet in select productions––including “Swan Lake.” At 17, Khoza joined the Cape Academy of Performing Arts (CAPA) Accelerated Training Programme. She also joined the Cape Dance Company as a student dancer that same year, graduating to a full-fledged member soon after that.
“I started performing on big stages really early, at the age of 7, and I remember being inspired by some of the dancers around me,” said Khoza. “Some went on to become principal dancers and such, but I remember being a little older and sharing stages with them again and just cherishing the experiences and the memories created over the years.”
In 2015, Khoza was invited to study at the Central School of Ballet in London. Soon after graduating from CAPA, she spent five months abroad and discovered a previously hidden zeal for travel.
“As South Africans, I think we sometimes think or feel that we’re in a bubble,” said Khoza. “So being able to step out of that bubble for a few months was a huge spark for me.”
Khoza returned to Cape Town greeted by her first professional contract. She signed to and became a soloist at the Cape Dance Company. After a season there, she joined one of South Africa’s premier ballet companies based in Johannesburg, the Joburg Ballet. Little to Khoza’s knowledge at the time, yet another great transition would soon take place. Within that same year, Khoza was nominated by internationally acclaimed choreographer, dancer and teacher Gregory Maqomba to participate in the 2016 to 2017 Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative.
“Funnily enough, when I first found out that I had been nominated I thought I was being spammed,” said Khoza. “I wasn’t aware that this initiative even existed, and it just seemed like something so far from my reality, that the most natural and logical explanation was that it was spam. I don’t think I believed that I could possibly get it, I think right up until I got the phone call to tell me that I was selected as the protégé. It’s still all a wild story. Very humbling.”
Every other year since 2002, the global and prestigious Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative has connected experts and young artists working in the fields of film, art, dance, music, architecture and more. Mentors and protégés are required to spend a minimum of six weeks together over the two-year period of the program. Program mentors have included filmmaker Martin Scorsese, author Toni Morrison, and Israeli choreographer and founder of the Gaga dance vocabulary, Ohad Naharin, with whom Khoza was paired.
“The first time I experienced Gaga was when I came to Tel Aviv to meet Ohad, so I didn’t really know what it was before that,” said Khoza. “Mentally it was incredibly intense, being immersed into the [Batsheva] Ensemble, essentially as an apprentice dancer. And I think the combination of both trying to understand and allow the transition into Gaga, as well as learning and performing the rep of the company––it was a lot.”
Naharin developed the movement language during his tenure as director of the Batsheva Dance Company based in Tel Aviv. He developed Gaga while recovering from a back injury and researching methods to become better in tune with the rhythms of his own body. This is the essential goal of Gaga––to learn to listen closely to one’s own rhythms, feel bonded to one’s body, and produce inspired movement. Khoza, having an extensive background in more refined techniques, was initially challenged by the freer movements of Gaga––but still drawn to them.
“It was something that needed to happen,” said Khoza of her early labors with Gaga. “I’m really grateful that Ohad allowed me the time and space to figure myself out, before jumping in. It honestly felt like it was a good nine months before I felt ‘comfortable’ and was able to say ‘I think I can do this.’”
Gaga has been a full-time aspect of Khoza’s life for nearly six years now. In 2017 Khoza joined the Batsheva Ensemble, the two-year program founded by Naharian to nurture and mentor young dancers while simultaneously attracting younger audiences to the larger company. In 2020 she became a member of the Batsheva Dance Company, where Gaga is involved in the daily training of company members.
With more than 25 years of experience and a substantial portfolio to reflect them, Khoza has more than affirmed herself as an immensely gifted and remarkably versatile dancer. Her repertoire encompassing an array of distinct styles, as well as her ability to move audience members to literal tears with whichever technique she employs, has already distinguished her all over the world.
Equally as impressive as Khoza’s skill is her general outlook and approach to new experiences. Khoza is just as much enterprising and ambitious artist as much as she is brilliant dancer, readily willing to embark on journeys, undertake pursuits, and acquire knowledge. She compares differing styles of dance to a single glass of water, and studying such styles to drinking from that same glass in varying manners. Though the technique may be dissimilar, the objective is the same.
“Ultimately we’re all drinking from the same glass (that is dance), maybe from slightly different angles, or in different ways, but it’s all the same thing,” said Khoza. “It’s art.”
View the trailer for the Batsheva Dance Company’s upcoming production of “Hora – The Movie” choreographed by Ohad Naharin. Courtesy of YouTube.