{"id":8987,"date":"2021-03-04T02:58:10","date_gmt":"2021-03-04T02:58:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=8987"},"modified":"2026-02-03T04:05:54","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T04:05:54","slug":"illuminating-the-audiences-conversations-with-michael-moloi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/?p=8987","title":{"rendered":"Illuminating the Audiences: Conversations with Michael Moloi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Originally\nfrom Johannesburg, Michael Moloi was raised performing cultural dances,\nincluding Gumboots, Pantsula, and traditional Zulu dancing around the villages\nof his hometown. Michael started performing at the age of eleven and eventually\nwent on to form his own dance group, Via Katlehong, in which he not only danced\nbut also acted as the artistic director and choreographer. \u201cVia Katlehong\u201d\nperformed nationally and internationally, spreading stories about traditions,\nSouth African culture, life during apartheid, and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Moloi\nwas invited to perform for The Beatles “LOVE ” Cirque du Soleil show\nin Las Vegas, Nevada. There he was a solo Gumboots dancer and a character\nperformer for eleven years. During the summer, Michael works to empower and\nengage under-served youth through circus and theater arts outreach programs\nwith the non-profit Prescott Circus Theater in Oakland, California, Rise art\nacademy from New York. He also performs in the Circus in the Parks program with\nSan Francisco’s Circus Bella, aimed at making entertainment accessible to\neveryone, which includes yearly performances in The Yerba Buena Gardens\nFestival. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael also\nworks with The University of Oregon Foreign Language and International Studies\nDepartment teaching Gumboots dance and Zulu language. He worked with WATTSOUL,\nan international hip hop dance festival teaching Pantsula dance and\nchoreography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Website:        Michaelmoloi.art<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instagarm:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 @Swazytheking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Interview with Michael Moloi,\nArtistic Director, Choreographer, Performing Artist and Designer<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What opportunities or events opened the door to your career? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> It all started in the dusty street in\nJohannesburg and with a blink of an eye I was traveling all over the world to different\ncountries including France, Italy, Belgium, Madagascar, Germany, Africa, and\nmany more. The big break in my career was Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. I was\ninvited as a solo performer\/special feature for the Beatles LOVE show from\nDecember 2005 to December 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about some of your solo performances? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> Whether I perform for one person or in front of\n3000 people, the response has been the same with wows! When people ask me about\nmy performances, I like to think of it as I give people a pill to forget where\nthey are or who they are with for a moment, and instead travel their mind into an\nempty space where it can feel good to laugh or cry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Describe your dance style.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> First, GUMBOOT that was created in the mines of\nSouth Africa, as a means of communication to a dance form (it was again the law\nto speak why\u2019ll you are working underground, so the mine workers created a\nlanguage or calling cords to speak).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, PANTSULA\ndance that was created in the townships, from poor circumstance in the squad at\ncamp as a form of survival. It started in 50s and 60s as a way for working man\nto show their social status. It was more of a style or a swagger. It was very\nmuch influenced by American brand. During 70s and 80s it evolved into a dance\nform as young generation creating street theater to tell their stories to the\nworld.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, my new style is a mix of body percussion and vocal sound of nature and animals with KORA instrument, working with a friend Joshua Caraco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What influences other style and creativity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> South Africa is always rooted in my creative\ndevelopment. But traveling and learning of the world, nature, art, culture and\npeople have much more influence on how I view things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Have you studied other style of dance?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Moloi:<\/strong> Throughout my life, I have taken classes in contemporary dance, ballet, hip hop, and tap. However, I always fall back in what I do, not because I don\u2019t like the other dances. I am afraid to like them too much to do mine less. I am one of the few people that performs, teaches, and educates people about my culture in America. I feel that I am my best at it and that it gives me a greater purpose to teach and educate others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What causes or charities do you support and why?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> I support causes against police brutality,\nsocial injustice, and racism. I am a child born under apartheid government and\nto witness it again in America I feel like we didn\u2019t really grow much. I run Charity\nMiles in support of Save the Children. I believe children are the game changer and\nthe future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you also choregraph\/teach? Tell us a little\nbit more about any dance academy you are involved in.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> I have been a dance choreographer and teacher\nfor very long time. When you perform and travel the world not so many people\nunderstand the creativity that comes with your final piece. So, what end up\nhappening is that they give you a platform to create and choreograph your dance\nmovements and if necessary, teach them to others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I plan to teach\nonline classes with Lane Arts Academy in Eugene, Oregon. I applied for this\nposition for little more than a year ago and since Covid didn\u2019t make things\neasier lots of artist like me have been on hold. I have also been teaching outdoor\ndance classes in community parks since June 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who are some of the people that you have worked with in your projects?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> In America it all started with Cirque du Soleil\nin Vegas from 2006-2016 where I did two creations and attracted celebrities\nsuch as Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Denzel Washington, Fergie, Bon Jovi, Paul\nMcCarthy, Ringo Start and more. I also had an opportunity to be on big stages\nlike the Grammys, Music Care, America Got Talent, Italy Got Talent, NASCAR event,\nLife is Beautiful and more. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had opportunities to be in movies like \u201cRun Away with Cirque\u201d directed by James Cameron, \u201cAll together now\u201d 1 and 2 by Cirque. Recently I have been free lancing and teaching colleges, libraries and dance studios.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

How does every performance make you feel?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Moloi:<\/strong> Every performance takes me to a place of peace\nand silence. I get to lose my self and let my body do the work. I train really\nhard for my performances and when it\u2019s time to perform, I let the body do the\nwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell us about your training routine.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> My training routine is long hours of\nrepetition\/drill until it looks good and feels good. Most importantly I like plant\na seed for the public to think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you try to push yourself in new directions with each new piece? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> I am always pushing myself in new directions. My\nway of dance tells poems\/stories, and those stories are di\ufb00erent all the time.\nI sometimes allow people to tell me the story and I perform it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How has your dance style and dance philosophy changed over the years?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> I am older, wiser, stronger now. I can perform\nand engage my audience. I still dance hard but I speak harder. I like to\nperform and tell stories on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are your goals\/dreams for the future?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> My dream is to enlighten people in a show on Broadway,\na show that talks about events from South Africa during and after apartheid.\nThe show will include beautiful vocals, cultural songs, music, dance, poetry,\nsounds and rhythms of nature. Much like Hamilton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What legacy do you want to leave behind? What do you want to be\nremembered for?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael\nMoloi:<\/strong> I want to be remembered as an artist that have\ntried his best to entertain, perform, dance, create and teach from the heart.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally from Johannesburg, Michael Moloi was raised performing cultural dances, including Gumboots, Pantsula, and traditional Zulu dancing around the villages of his hometown. Michael started performing at the age of eleven and eventually went on to form his own dance group, Via Katlehong, in which he not only danced but also acted as the artistic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8990,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8987"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19198,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8987\/revisions\/19198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nyglamour.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}