Tuli takes on tough London dance scene

NAMIBIAN dancing sensation Tulimelila Shityuwete is slowly but surely making a name for herself in London. The 24-year-old theatre dancer has auditioned for various roles to market her remarkable talent to scouts and dancing companies in London and beyond.

She has been at it since late 2010 with the mission of further exploring her craft in a foreign industry. She admits that it has been a great professional challenge which she embraced wholeheartedly. After almost a year and a half of hard work, Tulimelila is back in Namibia to visit her family. Tuli, as she is affectionately known, is a classically trained dancer who obtained a Bachelor of Musicology (Dance distinction) from the University of Cape Town. She has been dancing since she was four years old. Through the years she did ballet, contemporary, jazz, salsa, gymnastics and, most significantly, African and African Contemporary and several other dance types at the College of the Arts and the National Theatre of Namibia. She recalls making one of the biggest decisions in her life which was to take up dance as a career despite coming from a conservative society where one was expected to study science or law. Luckily her parents were there to give her full support on this one. ‘It was never a choice; I always knew that I wanted to dance. It was scary thinking about it though’, she says. She mentions that London’s dance industry was indeed challenging because the many dancers there are more specialised. ‘It is quite hard to get into a company in South Africa and in London it is extra hard’. Tuli managed to play the lead in ‘Voices in the Alleyway’ for Descarga Dance Company and worked for a number of companies on their shows. This included offers from prominent choreographers like Sara dos Santos. One of her highlights was getting into the top 40 of the British version of ‘So You Think You Can Dance’ competition. She emphasises that the standards and quality of the dance products are high and one gets pushed to one’s limits. Tuli further says that certain choreographers helped her break out of her comfort zone, which allowed her to grow. She will return to London soon to continue her career. Already lined up for this year is a tour with one of the dance companies. ‘I am just going to look for experience and then I will come back to my country to give back’ she said.Tuli believes in the future of Namibian dancers. She acknowledges the limited dance market but at the same time states that there is enough work going on that will bring about growth and development. She said it is a challenge but someone has to do it. The talented dancer has a vague list of things that she wants to achieve in the next five to 10 years, but what she knows for sure is that she will still be dancing.