Dance
Get to know Shanny J - the South African waacker ready to take on the world
The South African Red Bull Dance Your Style winner is gearing up for the World Finals
Born and raised in Boksburg’s Reiger Park, South Africa’s Red Bull Dance Your Style champion Shanny J has had a passion for dance from a young age. The 23-year-old recalls watching her older cousins dance and copying their moves as a kid, as well as being obsessed with music videos by the likes of Beyonce and Michael Jackson, whose moves she would also try to imitate. Professionally, Shanny J’s career kicked off at the age of 15 when she had her first paying gig.
SHANNY J
© Mpumelelo Macu / Red Bull Content Pool
Shanny J’s primary dance style is waacking, but she’s also versed in vogue, locking, and hip hop. As a show dancer, she spends her time between show rehearsal, performing, and training. “Whether it’s my showmanship, dance moves, taking in new dance styles and incorporating them into my whacking. I train but every opportunity I get, I train and every opportunity to rest I take it as well.”
Although Shanny J likes dancing to all types of music, she is particularly moved by R&B and soul, which allows her to move better because she feels through the music. “When it comes to R&B and soul I feel freer, therefore I am more creative.”
As a dancer, Shanny J is inspired by the many amazing dancers, not just internationally, but locally as well, learning from those she surrounds herself with and her environment. “The people that I surround myself with are just as talented [as overseas daners]. So I learn a lot from them. For instance, Amapiano is not my strong suit, but I learn as much as I can from the people around me. I look at what surrounds me, everything, whether it’s a person or an object. How can I tell a story through this, or how can I incorporate this?” These include dancers such as Lee-ché Janecke, Kgomotso, Rudi Smit, Liam Anthony, Verb, Junior from PE, Chester Martinez, Bugz, Sipho Been Jammin, and Yami.
For Shanny J, dance is more than just a coping mechanism, but also a way of getting rid of stress and anxiety. ”It sounds cliche, but it’s so true. If I don’t dance for a week I go into a depressive state where I don’t feel good about myself. So dancing makes me feel good about myself.”
During her dance career, Shanny J has faced numerous challenges including her weight, being female, and being a female waacker. “I’ve always been comfortable with being a little bigger than the other girls in the shows and in certain shows that is not a thing, so I used to feel very uncomfortable about it and now it’s not a challenge anymore because I’ve embraced it and accepted myself.
Being a female dancer is a risk, being a female, in general, is a risk. So being a female dancer has been probably the biggest challenge as well, and people don’t really take note of it because people don’t really talk about it, but it’s a big challenge for us being in an industry that’s male-dominated or where sexy and being yourself makes people uncomfortable.
[Finally], being a female waacker. A lot of people don’t like things that are different. Waacking is a queer style, a gay style. So people didn’t really accept it. Also being feminine and being sexy makes a lot of people uncomfortable, so it was a challenge to have people accept me. At the same time, I didn’t really care whether people accepted me or not, but I wanted to show them that this is what I can do.”
Shanny J’s determination to showcase what she describes as her “gift from God” has seen her overcome these challenges to take part in numerous shows, as well as win Afropunk 2019 and be awarded as the best female dancer in Croatia’s DanceStar competition in 2018. “[Winning Afropunk] was a proud achievement because I trained vogue for a year and I could do it on a big platform and I had the backing of so many other vogue houses which was amazing, people were very accepting of me as an ally in that space. I count my smallest achievements as well, like all the shows I’ve done, all the improvement I’ve done in my growth. Red Bull Dance Your Style is my proudest achievement because I’m being seen and respected as a female waacker especially in South Africa, which is amazing.”
With a life dedicated to dance, most of Shanny J’s time is dedicated to it, however she does find time for those close to her. “I go to the gym, I read, I hang out with people that I love. I try and connect as much as I can with the people around me.”
While Shanny J is preparing for the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final, she is also still performing in shows and has had to find creative ways to manage both. “I’ve been back-to-back with training as well as my shows, so I’ve been conditioning myself and in the same breath I’ve been doing shows, I’ve been performing, I’ve been amongst dancers from different dance styles and calibers and they’ve been helping me with dance-style combos and working together on things. I’ve had a lot of support from amazing people. So it’s all of that, as well as preparing mentally.”
With the Final featuring dancers that Shanny J looks up to, she is excited to compete and push herself in the process, with a focus on the experience and not the prize.”I’m going in with the mindset that winning isn’t everything. I’m going in knowing that this is such a beautiful opportunity to meet these dancers and battle them. Winning should be something that should be thought of, but it shouldn’t be a priority. It should be something that you aim for, but if you don’t get it, your whole world shouldn’t crumble underneath your feet. I’m going in learning, improving, growing, seeing what my limits are and aren’t, and pushing my limits.”
Outside of Red Bull Dance Your Style, Shanny J hopes that dance allows her to experience the world, be known for her skills as a dancer. “My ultimate goal is to be in the world and showcase my style. Be different. I want people to know my name. Whether it’s here or in a different country, I just want to travel and meet amazing people and experiences. I just want to be free, I want people to know Shanny J as the South African waacker. I want to keep flying our flag high.”
Shanny J also hopes to inspire the kids from her community. “I come from a community where your dreams and goals get crushed underneath your feet if you don’t get educated, so the ultimate goal is to let kids from Reiger Park know that the sky isn’t the limit. They can visit other countries, express themselves and understand that the world is not just the small community that we’ve built for ourselves, but that there are a lot of things that we haven’t experienced. I want to inspire so many kids from my community to go out there, be great and not be apologetic for anything!”
Catch Shanny J competing alongside the best dancers in the world at the Red Bull Dance Your Style World Final on the 4th of December in Johannesburg. For more information and to buy your tickets, click here.