An eleven-year-old Somerset West girl who had open-heart surgery at only eight months has never stopped following her dream of dancing and attuning limb, hand and foot to every arabesque or jeté. Now that she finds herself on the cusp of performing on a national stage she is appealing for help in realising her aspirations.
Rochell Alberts, who has danced since age five, is with the Prestige Dance Company, elite students of Rhapsody Dance Centre of the Performing Arts. She also represented the Western Province team at recent trials with her solo dance and all her group dances qualified for the South African championships to be held in Rustenburg in October.
“I am trying to find sponsorships and donations to help her go the South African championships,” said Christell, her mom.
Rochell is the younger of two children. At eight months she was diagnosed with a congenital heart condition, partial Atrioventricular Septal Defect (primum ASD) with tri-leaflet left atrioventricular (AV) valve and mild residual left AV valve regurgitate. There was a large hole between the receiving heart chambers (atria) and associated abnormal “mitral” valve that was defective. “Her valve is still leaking and we go for yearly check-ups and scans at her cardiologist,” said Christell.
She added that Rochell started ballet at five years old after she and her family had attended a dance show at the theatre, and the different dances made a strong impression on her.
“We decided she would join Rhapsody Dance Centre of the Performing Arts in 2017, and she has been there ever since. Having been very shy before, dancing helped her become more confident. It also helped her be more flexible and creative, and to be able to work in a team. Through the years we could see how she grew. She dances about 16,5 hours a week.”
Rochell’s highlights include being selected as one of the Elite students, and she also received awards for Most Improved Junior, Most Improved Modern Junior, the RDC Trophy for Dedication and Determination Junior and the ADA Trophy for Hardest Working Junior
Last year at the SA Championships all the group dances she participated in received gold medals, and another highlight was this year when she performed her first Solo for Western Province trials and qualified.
Rochell admitted she enjoyed learning new dances and at trials she was very nervous until the music started. “I was very excited and happy when I qualified!” she exclaimed, and added she is honoured to be part of the WP team and looks forward to meeting new people.
“There are quite a lot of expenses involved in going to the national championships,” Christell says, “such as entry fees, costumes, flight costs, car rental, accommodation and food for 10 days. Everything will be about R30 500. Anyone able to assist can email me at calberts2005@gmail.com.”
