Vuyelwa Phota

Born and bred in the vibrant and dynamic scene of Johannesburg, Vuyelwa is a professional dancer whose life sees intersection between the intellectual, performing and creative spheres. Trained in Ballet and Modern Dancing from age 8, her true feel for dancing long term was afforded to her upon acceptance to South Africas leading school of artistic and academic education, The National School of the Arts. There she trained in Ballet, Contemporary and Flamenco daily, engaged in Dance Theory and Anatomy studies and discovered her skill in choreography. Dabbling in musical theatre, she featured in lead roles of Gibson Kente’s Too Late and Ntokozo Mlaba’s Back Home and other such productions held at The Mandela Theatre and NSA Drama Department Theatre. Through the annual Dance Spectrum (The Ruby Suite and Clara’s Journey 2018, Hidden Language 2020 and Reflections 2021) and Dance Celebration which was an annual student choreography showcase, various other styles of movement were explored by Vuyelwa to give rise to the versatility she now possesses in her discipline. Her years at the NSA allowed her to actualise her academic and artistic gifts simultaneously where she blossomed with achievements such as the Top 10 Academic Achiever and Top Dance Studies Scholar (99%) in the Johannesburg South District as well as The Dux Scholar of 2021, Top Choreographer of 2021 and RCL Presidency (2020-2021) in the NSA to name a few. Studying in The Faculty of Health Science at The University of Cape Town in 2022 she was granted a Golden Key Honours Society Award for achieving among the top 15% in the field of study she was pursuing; BSc(Physiotherapy). In this year she trained in the evenings with The Figure of 8 Dance Collective, JazzArt and Jacqui Pells School of Ballet and choreographed her highly impactful debut work Kuyenyuka for The Tin Town Theatre in Johannesburg. Making the decision to follow her dreams and pursue dance in 2023, she was invited to dance as a company member of JazzArt Dance Theatre where recognition as a standout mover in The Guardian and Dance Art Journal as well as a feature in the BBC film of Requiem by Dane Hurst which premiered in the UK saw her make her big break in her craft. Engaging in various choreographic, repertory, performance, outreach and touring endeavours with the company marks the activities through which she has seen artistic proliferation as a company dancer. She then joined the highly acclaimed, interdisciplinary, Darkroom Contemporary as a company dancer in May 2024 for their premier of the AUTOPLAY at the Longkloof Studios. Featuring in Dr Nduduzo Makhathini’s When We See Us at The Zeits MOCAA (2023), choreographing and performing her powerful solo work “EMANCIPATION” for the Smart Is Cool first Annual Creative Symposium at The Sandton Theatre On The Square (2024), creating her immersive live art work ‘What Part is Art’ for Working Title’s Live Art Weekends at the Baxter Theatre, shooting for EARTHBOX’s launch in Lourensford and for household brand MrPrice’s Sportswear line (2023), Vuyelwa is determined to express her individual artistry and intellectual capacity through her aptitude for dance improvisation, technical and versatile movement exploration, multimedia collaborations and highly conceptual choreographic innovations.