Little Rose Centre // Penelope

“The dance center would play a big role in the children in this community because it keeps them away from the streets. It’s important to keep the children active; an active mind helps children to concentrate at school and be successful with their studies.”

One of the first thing Penelope asked me and Em was, "do you guys dance?" to which Em announced that I used to be a cheerleader (thanks Em). Immediately Penelope got excited and asked if I could help do some exercises with the kids during the after-school dance class. I agreed, but was honestly pretty damn nervous.

Obviously, the dances I used to do in high school assemblies was absolutely nothing like the choreography of the African traditional dance that they practiced. Still, Penelope thought that the kids would enjoy learning something new and different. I asked her if I could just watch and then do something with the kids tomorrow, which at this point she could tell that I was a little anxious to take the lead. She grabbed my hand and lead me to the dance studio, which is a metal container-building with a rubbled foundation and no electricity because they ran out of funds to complete everything. The room was just beginning to get dark, but nobody minded.

No boom box. No stereo. No speakers. Penelope projected her voice to fill the room with a few lines in Zulu and all of the dancers repeated and began powerfully singing. Two boys and a girl pounded on drums in intense rhythms and a group began dancing on stage into their first formation. I sat there in amazement as they switched from a Zulu dance to Xhosa to Tswana. Every performance was a celebration of the diversity of traditional dance that ranges the country; there are eleven official languages in South Africa, and many different cultures/styles of dance to compliment each. It was one of the coolest performances I've seen.

As soon as they finished, Em and I erupted in loud cheering and a standing ovation. Without skipping a beat, Penelope grabbed me and told everyone that I was an "American dancer" who had some choreography to teach them. The kids started cheering and asked me to show them something. Under pressure, I caved in and walked to the now empty concrete stage. I hadn't danced solo or taught choreography since my last cheer season, and I scrambled to remember any of my old choreography. I asked one of the girls to play a beat for me and waited for a couple eight-counts as the kids sat in a crowd in front of me. How did I get here?

I looked over at Penelope who was smiling mischievously at me. I smiled back, shook my head, and decided to just commit. So out came the 2011 cheer try out dance (lol) that I made with the other IHS captains before our senior year of high school. The last time I performed/taught this was back in a shiny, new gym in Bellevue, Washington. The juxtaposition was pretty interesting. As soon as I finished, they all started yelling that they wanted to learn, so the next 15-minutes were spent teaching them the choreography, count by count. There we were, doing cheer in a township in South Africa.

The next day, Penelope introduced me to a local choreographer and pulled me into his dance session that evening in one of the Kindergarten classrooms. She pulled me to the front row, again with a mischievous smile, saying "Ta-rararara woohoo!!" We all switched off adding in choreography, to which he put a Zulu fusion into every move. Side by side, Penelope and I danced for hours and finished the session with a sweaty hug. That session is still one of my favorite memories from the trip.

Penelope is a kick ass human, if you can't tell. She's loud and fearless, and encourages you to embrace that same confidence. She's a firm believer in the power of dance and how it brings people together, how it brings out the best in people. The quote at the top (from a grant she helped me write for one of my projects to get more funding for the center) is how she explained her philosophy on why completing the dance center is a "need" and not a "want" for Little Rose / the community. She is a force to be reckoned with, and a force that will bring out a free-spirited side to you. We all need a Penelope in our life to push us on the stage, especially when we can't get ourselves to.