UPDATE: Cape Town Carnival 2020 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Young Tyron Zoutman has already won a string of awards for dance, choreography, scriptwriting and direction. And the 27-year-old dancer, singer and choreographer, who grew up in impoverished circumstances in the Swartland town of Piketberg, will once again play a leading role in this year’s Cape Town Carnival on 21 March in Green Point, Cape Town.
Performing alongside several other dancers in the Honouring our African Cultural Roots pod of this year’s festival, Zoutman will help to bring to life the Carnival’s theme, Incredible Journey Sounds of South Africa. The routine will combine traditional and contemporary African dance, and draw inspiration in movement, dress and adornment from isiZulu, isiXhosa, seSotho and Ndebele cultures.
Hip hop, gumboot, African fusion dance
Zoutman, who is skilled in local hip hop, kwaito, gumboot, African jazz and African fusion dance attributes his success to his mother, his church and “some incredible teachers and mentors”. “They shaped who and what I am today,” he says. “I came from a family that was very spiritual and artistic, and my childhood was sort of like a ‘God journey’ with teachers like Miss Hefca and the late Roderick Beukes seeing in me talent then pushing me in the right direction.”
The only child to his mother, and one of four to his father, and later a breadwinner for the family, Zoutman started dancing at five. “Whenever stress got to me, I would dance my heart out,” he recalls. “It was like therapy. Pretty much at every opportunity, I was dancing.”
Zoutman, who studied Performing Arts at Northlink College in Cape Town began his journey after being plucked from a school choir. His first acting/musical role was as Rapelsteeltjie, followed by dancing in Piketberg Eisteddfods for the Western Cape Movement Education Association (WCMEA). He undertook a singing tour to Germany in 2008, and received several golden accolades during his school years. He graduated from Northlink in 2013, winning Pearson’s BTech International Student of the Year title, and being invited to London to receive the award from one of the world’s largest education institutions.
He has appeared in The Boyfriend and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Evita (2013), Our Winds That Heal (2015/16), Ugubani Wena (2016/17/18), Uhambo, The Fire Within Us! (2017/18), and Worstel In Die Geheim (2018). He was a master class presenter at Suidoosterfees from 2016 to 2019.
“But it was Cape Town Carnival and all its incredible people, especially those at the community dance workshops, that made me fall in love with the spirit of ubuntu/togetherness and allowed me not only to perform what I did best, but also to mentor others and share in their development,” he says.
Zoutman, who has established two companies, Zoutman Dance Company and Lekker Jy? Produksies, believes that “being bold, brave and passionate” has enabled him to achieve so much.
To see Zoutman and over 2 000 other costumed performers, giant-sized floats and incredible live performance groups take part in this year’s Cape Town Carnival, visit www.capetowncarnival.com or follow @thecapetowncarnival (Facebook), @CTCarnival (Twitter) or #capetowncarnival (Instagram).
Who: Tyron Zoutman
Cape Town Carnival 2020: Green Point Fan Walk 1.2km parade route
WS
