During May, the Grade 9 learners at Thaba Jabula Secondary School in Klipspruit, Soweto were lucky to get a visit from the multi-talented writer, dancer, actor and director Lawrence Simelane, whose short story ‘Dancing Dreamer’ appears in the recently published FunDza collection of short stories It Takes Two! Vol 2.
Lawrence, who is also from Soweto, managed to visit and spend time with all 6 Grade 9 classes during their English FAL periods. Each class welcomed him in their own way by performing different welcome speeches, poems and dialogues inspired by the story ‘Dancing Dreamer’. Then he read the exciting last part of the story with them.
After finishing the story, the learners enjoyed the rare opportunity to ask Lawrence questions about the story itself and his process in writing it. Some wanted to know whether the main character, Teboho, who is a Pantsula dancer that is trying to find his long lost father, was a real person. Because Lawrence is also a Pantsula dancer, many learners thought that Lawrence had written the story about himself. Interestingly, as Lawrence proceeded to explain to the learners, the character of Teboho is actually a mix of three different people whom he knows in real life.
Lawrence also shared some of his acting skills with the learners by performing a monologue about a young man who has no birth certificate, identity document or any living relatives. This monologue was the original inspiration for the story ‘Dancing Dreamer’. Finally, after the questions and answers, Lawrence couldn’t leave before showing the learners some of his Pantsula moves and getting them on their feet to play some drama games.
All of the learners felt inspired and motivated after having a ‘real’ writer come to visit them and read with them, especially a writer who could dance so well too! The learners of Thaba Jabula Secondary School strongly encourage other Fundza readers to invite their favourite writers to come and spend time with them.
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Thanks to Sven Glietenberg of Thaba Jabula Secondary School in Klipspruit, Soweto, for sending us this report!