East Coast Swing

Established with the motto “por el amor de la danza” which translates to “for the love of the dance” on 01 November 2014, Samba Heat Dance was the brainchild of Principal Coach Thabang (TJ) Phutsisi-Bhengu.

The idea came about as TJ was seeking freedom to dance, for himself and other dancers from disadvantaged community. It came into being after a series of discussions between TJ and Sivile Zakade, where it was noted that most talented disadvantaged dancers end up dropping out of dance, with dance only remaining a dream that never was realized.

Acknowledging himself as one f those whose love for dance had to be discarded due to financial reasons, Sivile agreed to be involved in managing the administration and finances of Samba Heat Dance, while TJ focuses on teaching and development.

We started training dancers in March 2015 at the Blairgowrie Recreation Centre, and expanded to the Windsor East Recreation Centre (where we took on youth on a pro-bono basis, with the intention of rescuing youth from the unhealthy lifestyle in the area) in 2016.

We are registered as a studio with the South African Dance Foundation (SADF) and the South African Dance Teachers Association (SADTA), pending the qualification by TJ (or both members) with the International Dance Teachers Association (IDTA).

Since 2015, our student dancers have been partaking and placing at various competitions with the SADTA and the SADF. We are looking at growing a family of healthy and interdependent dancers, with a big interest n nature conservation (hence our ties with Dance To Be Wild) and assisting each other (Share With A Dancer).