Dancing is music to Tanya Jacobs’ feet

Her classes have become something of a family tradition because many of her past students have now enrolled their children with her, some from the tender age of 3 years old.

How did her dancing career start?

Tanya explains:” A dancing teacher at Generaal Hendrik Schoeman Primary School, approached me to take over her classes when she fell pregnant. I was 17 years old at the time, already a qualified teacher and saw it as an opportunity to earn pocket money.”

She smiles. “Since then, I have never stopped.”
Although Tanya and her family relocated to Pretoria-North 16 years ago, she decided to keep the doors of her dancing school open and to travel from Pretoria to Hartbeespoort every day from Mondays to Fridays as she was already settled here.

We chatted in her spacious studio with the logo; “Dancing is music to the feet.” She sanitizes the whole studio every day in order to keep everyone safe.

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With the help of an assistant, this highly qualified and experienced teacher teaches seven different dancing styles, ranging from modern, tap, and hip hop to ballet at her popular dancing school where she currently has 110 students.

Apart from this busy schedule she is often asked to judge at dancing competitions and sport events.

Tanya started to dance when she was three years old but admits that she was a “lazy” dancer.

“I did not like to practice and on top of that I had stage fright. Practicing regularly is of utmost importance. I never wanted to be a dancing teacher – until I started to teach classes. So never say never because you might end up in a place like Kathu where there is nothing in this field.”

Tanya also claims that she never was an outstanding dancer until she was 13 years old when she started to practice regularly.

“You do not necessarily need to be a brilliant dancer to be a good teacher”, she adds.

As in fashion, certain dancing styles depending on the latest movies and television series, can become fads. Tanya favours tap dancing, but many kids prefer hip hop. Two years ago, everyone wanted to do modern dancing.

Can anyone dance? Some people claim that they have two left feet.

“Definitely”, says Tanya. “Dancing is not about who is the best. It is about exercise and staying supple. For sport you need a certain talent.”

Tanya says she is very strict when it comes to her classes. Discipline is important and each dancer has a designated area and her own block in which she dances. Therefore, the mothers have to stay outside while she teaches. The duration of the classes is only half an hour, and she feels that the parents pay for these classes and that there has to be results.

“Discipline also prepares them for school. You do not go to school because you enjoy it but because you must. If you want something, you must work for it. When kids want to quit, I encourage them to carry on until the end of the year and just to complete their course. They might just change their minds.

“To be a good dancer you must have perseverance. As a child I hated ballet. I just wanted to shake. But eventually I got my teachers diploma in ballet and now I can teach ballet.”

As was the case with many of us, Tanya also suffered financial losses during the Covid-19 lockdown.

“I could not travel over the border from Gauteng to North-West, but we carried on with classes via Zoom which certainly is not ideal. There were also problems with the networks. Not interacting on a personal level, was hard for the little ones.”

Tanya says it is a pity that boys do not take dancing classes as they are often stigmatized and then turn to sport when they become older.

Tanya’s own daughter Marnique Breytenbach (16) is also an accomplished dancer, but her son Ulrich (14) has always preferred to play outside after doing a few half-hearted steps in the studio.

What occupation besides dancing would she chose if she could?

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Well, this might come as a surprise, but Tanya studied Law for 7 years at Tuks. She completed a BCom-degree in Law as well as an LLB and completed post graduate studies in Children’s rights. The money that she earned with her dancing classes paid for her textbooks. She initially wanted to study Physiotherapy but was not one of the 28 selected students.

After her studies she realised that she preferred a career in dancing.

“I love children and I love to work with them. I will probably carry-on teaching until I walk with a walking stick.”

Tanya presents workshops at the beginning of each year from 8 am to 5 pm to explain the syllabus.

“It is very important to warm up and to cool down, walk around a bit after the classes and do stretches. My kids know that when they attend my classes, they should already be warmed up.”

Her dancing school boasts many successes. Some of her students have done extremely well at the SA Dancing Championships and in acrobatic sport. They also won several Stagequest competitions in the categories “Top female junior and senior dancers” as well as “Top junior and senior dancing schools.”

Three of her students went for online auditions with ABS Productions and were chosen for acting roles in short films for which they must complete a course in Drama. The well-known actor and dancer Izak Davel is a mentor for one of the children.

Tanya also has a heart for her community and belongs to a care group which runs a feeding project at her children’s’ school.

“There is poverty in every community. Especially because of the Covid-19 pandemic. We provide weekly food parcels for needy parents, and we make sandwiches for the children who are in need. It often is the only food that they get. I let my children help me to raise awareness.”

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