Super Secret, Tshe Tsha Boys.

Just spent 3 weeks in South Africa creating an array of different work.

One of the projects was on the Tshe Tsha boys, a Shangani Electro Dance Crew from Giyani Limpopo, the heart of the Shangaani people, we met up in Soweto Johannesburg at their manager Producer Nozinja (Dog) for the shoot. More info will come when its out and about. (Electronic Beats, Berlin, is where it'll be)

Ct 2010

Colors 78 'Dance' Kuduro MC Custuleta

In the current issue of Colors, Dance, the team was sent on a wild researching goose chase to find stories on youtube to do with the theme. One of the gems that we came accross was a video of a guy with one leg dancing on top of a car about 8 years ago in Angola to Kuduro music.

After weeks of hunting him down we discovered the one legeed prodigy from Angola, MC Custuleta, in Paris living a life of relative fame and fortune. He is the top of his game when it comes to the niche Kuduro scene in Europe.

I got to spend 4 days with him, experiencing his day to day life of training, practice, signing autographs and one powerful performance in Metz 3 hours east of Paris. It was priceless.

The magazine is available in stores around the world at the moment and the videos from the issue can be seen on Colors Magazines Youtube channel which I shot two of. I have also included the video in this post.

Ct 2010

One of the aims on the job was to re-create a scene from the original video that we found on Youtube. Together we found a scrapyard next to the highway where we got permission to shoot on top of one of the scrapped vehicles.

 

On the first day of shooting the first thing I noticed was that the scenes look to out of location, it looked as if I had shot them somewhere in Angola and not in Paris where we were. So I decided to take Custuleta and his crew of dancers up to the Eiffel tower. A ton of other dancers where around as it was a meeting spot where dance crews come to show there moves and practice. The building which over looked the Eiffel Tower is called Le Palais de challiot

At the live performance in Metz.

Colors 78 'Dance' Pantsula

I have been dying to put this story up on my blog and now that the new Colors magazine is hitting the shelves its a pleasure to do so. I researched, photographed and produced a video on the 'Real Actions' Pantsula dance crew.

The story is about a group of dancers from Orange Farm South Africa called 'Real Actions'. They are a Pantsula dance crew from one of the most infamous townships in Johannesburg, South Africa, Orange Farm. The dance itself comes from Tsotsi (South African township gangsters) culture which has very negative stereotypes attached to it. The groups founders decided to use the dance form in a positive way and initiated a community uplifment program where they gave guys from the area the opportunity to use their dance skills in a public sphere (generating income) as well teach more kids from the area how to Dance.

I headed off one day into the township with Millisuthando Bongela (local writer) to meet the guys. We took a taxi off into the township where I was shown the ropes and allowed to view an area I had always been to scared or naive to enter previously. The following shots and video where created.

To see all the other Colors videos visit the Colors magazine youtube channel here. 

One of the dancers shows me the inside of his tin shack in the backyard of someone elses house. 

Outside his house with his mother. 

The beauty of the dance is it is performed on the street anywhere and anytime. 

The guys prepare themselves for practice in the local community hall.