But two local Latin dancers, Kesego Lopang and her partner, Prince Kesupetswe have strong belief in the art and they have reached the top level after turning professional. Latin dance has a long history after the style was introduced at the Blackpool Dance Festival in 1961, with a Latin tournament for amateurs only and then a professional tournament taking place in 1962. It was in 1964 that both the amateur and professional events were upgraded to championship status with the first professional winners being Walter & Marianne Kaiser from Switzerland. Latin dance remained a largely unanimous sport in Botswana, but Lopang and Kesupetswe are making their mark.
The two are due to leave for Italy for a training workshop and dance competition this month. Lopang said they are now looking for any form of assistance after they secured flight tickets. “The training starts on March 17 until 23 and it will be followed by competition which ends on the 26th. As we have been dancing for the longest time, the Owen Dance School invited us to join them and we did. Competitions invite clubs and our club has been at this competition before, so we are going there because we are part of the club,” she said. The couple will be attending the Star Championships, which includes the World Syllabus Championships. Lopang started dancing in Selebi-Phikwe in 1996. Lopang said with her slim frame, her initial passion was on beauty pageants, but was later attracted to dancing, which she describes as fun. Her first competition was in Francistown in 1997 after she had completed Standard Seven. Lopang said from there on she was in and out of dance.
Lopang said her dancing was elavated to another level after she joined the UB Dance Club in 2004. She said around 2012 they established Latin dance superstars. “We have even represented Botswana in Russia winning a gold medal at the European Artistic Dance Championships. During that competition we received an invite to dance in Greece. We did not disappoint as we emerged the best,” she said. Lopang and Kesupetswe have been dancing together since 2016. The two reached the finals at the Rumba in the Jungle, which is the biggest dance festival ever held in Africa. “Dance is not growing but we are pushing it to grow. The challenge is finances because dance is an expensive sport; clothing, rehearsals and we do not have a dance studio in Botswana. Dance is now recognised as a sport,” Lopang said. She said they have introduced the Botswana Dance Teachers Association (BDTA) to build teachers who can teach and grow dance. “We are under BDTA right now. We are going to Italy to learn more and come back to teach our children.
Former ministers, Thapelo Olopeng and Tshekedi Khama liked dancing but now are struggling to open doors. We tried to ask for help from the Ministry of Youth, Gender Sport and Culture, they did not listen to us,” she said. For his part, Kesupetswe said they are recognised as one of the top dancers in Africa. “We are not just going to Italy to dance, we are dance teachers so we are going there to learn more,” he said.
Kesupetswe said he was attracted to dancing after he saw some people in dance in 2004 and he decided to join, which marked the start of a long journey.
