Arts and entertainment

Gumboot dancers take on the world

19 December 2008

Twelve performers from the smash-hit South African musical Umoja have jetted off to the United States to take part in a new dance-themed reality television show, Dance Stars of the World.

The new television series, featuring professional dancers from eight countries, has been dubbed "the Olympics of the dance world". It is being pre-recorded in December and will be screened on US channel NBC from January 2009.

The Umoja team touched down in Los Angeles to join their fleet-footed counterparts from China, Ireland, Australia, the USA, Argentina, India and Russia in a bid to assert their global supremacy in the dance arena.

They will be representing South Africa in the group dance section, performing the gumboot dance which has left theatre audiences around the world breathless.

Umoja – The Spirit of Togetherness, one of South Africa's longest-running original musicals, is the resident production at the revamped Victory Theatre in Johannesburg.

The television series is the brainchild of the creators and producers of American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe. It will be hosted by Lord of the Dance star Michael Flatley and actress Susie Castillo.

Each of the selected countries is sending a team of dancers to participate in the solo, duet/pas de deux and group categories, in addition to coaches and judges.

Over the course of the competition, the participants will be competing in various styles of dance in a bid to avoid elimination, in the run-up to the nail-biting finale.

"This is a huge opportunity for South Africa and for the world to see our amazing Umoja troupe members dance on an international platform," Anne Power, general manager of the Victory Theatre, said in a statement this week.

"We will be rooting for our boys, and are confident that they'll be flying the South African flag high in America – while thrilling viewers with their explosive gumboot dance moves."

SAinfo reporter