Phambili Ballet School in Goodwood is a prime example of living up to its name.
Phambili means ‘moving forward’, it also finds its origin in isiXhosa which makes it more at home. This institution which started out with only eight learners now proudly boasts with 50 learners and all of them dancing.
Phambili Ballet School started in 2016, run from an after care in Parow starting with only eight students.
The owner at the aftercare was looking for someone to teach the young ones ballet. Lizelle van Wyk who had just returned from abroad at that time was not sure if she would be able to do these classes, because it was not a lucrative idea, but at the same time she wanted to give back to the community. She took up the task and has not looked back since.
Van Wyk, who tells how she herself always had to travel outside of her community to get ballet classes, wanted children to be able to do ballet without having to travel too far. Therefore her classes run on Saturdays so that the working-class parents can bring their children.
She started off with eight kids at the Tygerberg kids after care and then at Goodwood Library with only five children.
“It started very small and slow.”
In 2018 Van Wyk took a shift and decided to give classes at the Leading Edge Fitness Club, which came about because the library had undergone renovations at the time. With this shift other challenges arose, such as signing a lease for the studio at the gym and paying rent.
When Covid struck, classes had to be stopped and done remotely. And even though they show an increase in numbers it soon went down again.
Later in 2020 Van Wyk resumed her live classes at a different venue to make it more accessible for kids. Going to the gym with the little ones caused too much congestion, there was not enough natural airflow and the traffic of other people and curious hands wanting to touch everything were not favourable, Van Wyk says.
The ballet class then moved to the Lion’s Club and has been there since 2020.
They now have ballet at their disposal, like Lizelle herself did not have when she was younger. She made her dream a reality by bringing ballet to her community. And now they are going to the Eisteddfod.
According to Van Wyk this is their second time going to the Eisteddfod. The first time they were supposed to participate, the Eistoddfod was put on hold because of Covid. Last year they participated remotely where they were recorded and the video was sent to the judges.
However, this year the Eisteddfod is back and open to how they have always been running. Phambili Ballet School has entered in the ballet category with 12 students from different age groups from 5-year-olds up to 12-year-olds.
Van Wyk says they worked very hard and are hoping for the best.
With this opportunity it can open many doors for the school and Lizelle, who is also afilliated with the Royal Academy of Dance as an accredited Royal Academy of Dance teacher.
The Eisteddfod started on Monday and the Phambili ballet dancers will perform their items on Friday.
This dancing school offers both ballet and modern dance.
