Mitchells Plain B-Girl breaking the mould
GROUNDWORK: 15-year-old Zenath Jacobs of Mitchells Plain practises her moves with sisters Zureida and Kauthar looking on GROUNDWORK: 15-year-old Zenath Jacobs of Mitchells Plain practises her moves with sisters Zureida and Kauthar looking on
Dancing has been keeping people fit and bringing them together since forever, so it’s about time this fun activity was recognised as a sport.
And hoping to bring back the first ever gold medal for break-dancing at the Youth Olympic Games is Mitchells Plain meisie, Zenath Jacobs, who has moves wat skrik vir niks.
Now mom Yushra is hard at work raising funds to realise her 15-year-old daughter’s dream to compete in the second round of the Youth Olympic Games as a B-Girl, in Germany next month.
It is the first time that break-dancing has been entered into the Youth Olympic Games.
The second round competition takes place on 22 October in Essen, Germany.
The finals take place a few days later in Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Zenath explains that, as a B-Girl, it has always been her dream to dance on an international stage.
B-GIRL: Zenath aims to win medal in Germany
“I have a dance group called Free Expression with my other sisters, Zureida, 13, and Kauthar, 18, and this is how I started dancing. I always saw them dancing and one day I asked them to teach me. Now we dance together,” the teen tells the Cape Argus.
“Dancing is part of us. It is my dream to become the best B-Girl in South Africa and a professional dancer. I am very excited to go to Germany. We have not raised all the funds yet, but my mom has been working really hard with fundraising.”
Yushra, who is also a former dancer, says she is very proud of her talented daughters.
“I want to realise Zenath’s dream. She is a good kid and has worked very hard to qualify for the competition and I don’t want to disappoint her. She is practising very hard every day, sometimes up to four hours. I have raised some of the funds for our travelling fees, but not all of it,” the mom says.
Angelo van Wyk, one of Zenath’s coaches, says he is very happy that break-dancing has been entered for the first time as a sport into the Youth Olympic Games, “because break-dancing is not being recognised as a sport, but our children love it”.
“And it’s a form of expressing themselves. All of us are very proud of Zenath. She is very talented and has been working very hard,” he said.
If you would like to assist Zenath, you can call her mom Yushra on 073 104 5216.