“We are Nice Things straight from Soweto, Johannesburg, South Africa. Mad gratitude to MGOSI for allowing us the opportunity to tell our story on this wonderful platform we are extremely grateful. Dare we say that we are the best Dance group everyone is about to witness? Perhaps!”
Best known as ‘Nice Things’, the dance group’s members, Nkosinathi “Mr. NT” Ngwenya (29), Danté “Bruce Dee” Pembanyali (28) and Sicelo “Season” Mabaso (27). Triumph in dance competition bagging R10k at Hennessy Back to the City.
Hennessy Back to the City which took place at Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg. Featured artists who represent the pinnacle of artistic expression from South Africa and abroad.
Founded in April 2021, Nice Things told Mgosi that they first heard of the competition as soon as the event has been announced on socials a few months prior to it happening.
“Our captain had been highlighting for months how bagging a win at “Back To The City” would do great for our profile & resume and also to test our growth within choreography,” said Bruce Dee.
We asked if this was the collective’s entering this specific competition and this is what they had to say:
“As individuals? No. We have been part of other groups in participation. As this current collective? Yes, every competition we have entered from this year has been and/or will be our first time on competitive platforms. The experience was nostalgic.”
Now, what is interesting about Nice Things’ win is the fact that they went into the competition with an injured captain!
Yet they still managed to walk away with the shmoney! Classic.
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During our interview with the dancers, we learnt that their captain, Mr. NT had been injured prior to the competition. However, he felt he was left with no choice not to let his team mates down and still compete.
Though it had been a challenge that had a heavy impact on the group.
“As new as we are together we had never encountered a mishap such as this. We were saved by our amount of experience within the dance industry.
Making it possible for us to work around choreography especially due to the fact that our unique dance Style was created by “Mr. NT”, “Bruce Dee” & “Season”, so improvisation was indeed possible and definite,” Bruce Dee and Season expressed.
We asked how they managed to alter if not accommodate Nkosinathi in their dance routine and this is what they said:
“We did not, he did! He did his best to make it seem ‘part’ of our presentation almost like a prop to try and make people forget that he is injured for a temporary moment on stage, we do admit the ending was a little dramatic though, haha,” Bruce Dee chuckled.
The captain had his first operation done last week, in which there is no way he can compromise this time because bits of metal are holding his bones intact fir the time being under his cast. Inspirational!
“So he’s currently out of commission performance wise. Though he heals fast and will number back at it by 2023. So look out!” the team said.
When COVID hit, is was extremely difficult for dancers to get as much work or bookings as per usual. So Nice Things decided to mess around with Tik Tok.
Mr. NT had the idea, presented it to Bruce Dee and they made the attempt. It was then when they trended in the United States of America on one of their early videos.
This is a result of a very unique digital dashing and/or robotic dance style and the rest is “historical”!
The attention towards the dancers has never decreased since they started trending. It keeps growing on a daily.
Now the big question, what do they plan to do with the R10 000 they won at the festival?
“Invest back in the business, grow the money and celebrate our hard work of course.
Our morale is high right now. We’ve been winning comps back to back and we don’t intend on slowing that down. We have reconnected and also helped build the respect for Dance in South Africa in contribution to the arts of Africa to the world. More practice. More motivation,”
As competitive the competition was, all competition deserves no underestimation. It’s been long since dancers went head to head because COVID. So everyone was heavily invested and real eager to bag a win.
Bruce Dee continued, “We were not intimidated at all though. Only anxious about our own performance.”