Johannes grew up facing hardship and bullying but through dance he discovered he could make his dreams come true.
00:00
every boy or every man that has ever
00:03
danced in their lives they will tell you
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that they’ve had a little bit of
00:08
bullying in their lives
00:10
[Music]
00:12
growing up in a small town ship in the
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dusty streets of South Africa you have
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to understand you either have to be a
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soccer player or rugby player and here I
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came Johannes who wanted to dance and of
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course that brought a lot of attention
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some kids were not nice in our tell my
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mom it’s funny because she always said
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they know what they saying and she used
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to assure me that she loved me so much
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so for me honestly at that time as young
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as I was I would go to school come back
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home and I would go to dance and that’s
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way that’s the two places I found safe
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home and at dance practice I was very
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aware of the situation that we didn’t
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have much at home the whole club where I
00:59
used to dance they would fundraise so
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that I could go and have a private
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lesson with a tutor come back and teach
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them what I learned in that lesson
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that’s how it used to work I danced my
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first competition and I came back home
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with a trophy even though I was like
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five or six or something it’s fine fine
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but when I saw my mom’s face and how
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proud she was I wanted to hold on to to
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to that feeling for as long as possible
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because I’ve never seen my mom that
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happy it was one random morning and I
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remember my phone rang and it was a
01:41
dance job there was a life-changing
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decision
01:44
because there was my first professional
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job I got paid and for the first time I
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could send money to my mama
01:50
there was before me
01:55
to go abroad and dance internationally
01:58
it was such a beautiful moment for both
02:00
me and my mom after that I just felt
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like I could take over the world
02:05
[Music]
02:09
it was 2018 the 27th of April when I got
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a phone call hi Johanna this is BBC
02:17
strictly we would like to invite you to
02:20
come to the United Kingdom and be a part
02:23
of super come dancing excuse me white
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this meant everything to me everything
02:30
to everybody back where I come from it
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was a big big moment and I realize it
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now more than ever now that I’m here
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because look where dance brought me look
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at how far does has taken me from my
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small town I honestly live in a sparking
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world and I feel like my dreams have
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come true it blows my mind
—
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