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Matie dancers to “sokkie” on CNN
Author: Corporate Communication / Korporatiewe Kommunikasie [Alec Basson]
Published: 22/02/2019

The Maties Ballroom and Latin American Dance Society at Stellenbosch University (SU) will feature in a CNN documentary about the popular South African dance form “langarm" to be aired on Inside Africa*, one of CNN's feature programmes.

The documentary forms part of a larger piece on David Kramer's production Langarm which is being staged at the Fugard Theatre in Cape Town until March 2019. It includes visual and spoken references to riel dancing on the West Coast as well as interviews with talented individuals within the creative team behind the musical. The insert on the Dance Society will specifically focus on “sokkie" – a type of “langarm" dance popular among students.

“I included the Dance Society in the Inside Africa piece I was doing on “langarm" because I wanted to show how “sokkie" is danced. I was also specifically wanting to have visuals of young people dancing, as young people provide a lot of joy and colour in a television piece," says Marion Edmunds, documentary filmmaker, producer and journalist doing freelance work for CNN. She and CNN cameraman Peter Rudden attended the Dance Society's opening function on the Stellenbosch campus on Monday 18 February 2019 to film the dancers doing the “sokkie".

Edmunds adds that she particularly liked the joyousness of the “sokkie" in which everybody at the opening function participated.

She says because “sokkie" is a uniquely South African way of dancing, she decided to include visuals of it in the piece, in particular in conjunction with the memories of the Fugard's Musical Director, Charl-Johan Lingenfelder, who was also at SU in the 1980s and is working on Langarm.

Commenting on this wonderful opportunity, the Dance Society's Chairperson Khaila Naude says, “it has been an absolute privilege and pleasure to have been considered for CNN's production and we are greatly appreciative of the opportunity! It is also very exciting that dancing, being so close to our hearts, will receive some more attention, especially within the South African context and other parts of the world. We really look forward being able to share the joy such a passionate art can offer with more people."

*The documentary will be aired on South Africa's DSTV Channel 401 at one or more of these broadcast times (CNN still has to confirm): Friday 19:30; Saturday 10:30 and 20:30; Sunday 01:30 and 6:30; and Tuesday 11:30.

  • Last year, Edmunds also produced a documentary for Inside Africa on the successes of the Stellenbosch University Choir.

Photo: Peter Rudden filming members of the Dance Society.

Photographer: Stefan Els