ALLAN BOTHA
There’s no wonder why Allan Botha has a lead role in Chace Dance Company’s upcoming production, “Secrets of a Family Portrait,” not even a year after he has joined the company. Watching him in rehearsal, you can’t miss her incredible lightness or his energetic smile. After his performance in Telkom’s Sales South African Conference, Botha has been classified as the next big thing! Botha started his dance training at the age of nine with Amber Pamp. He started training in Latin American and later pursued various other forms ad styles which has led him to becoming a prime dancer in South Africa’s latest contemporary company “Chace Dance Company.”
AUDREY HELBERG
If you have seen recent photographs of Chace Dance Company you have definitely seen Audrey Helberg. From audience spectators of past shows Helberg is the girl stealing the show, with her flawless flips and tricks with legs extended far beyond anyone else’s. Helberg continues to flourish in the spotlight one performance after the next.
Helberg grew up dancing at a competition studio known as Vanzyl Kroon for eleven years. She has competed in the American Dance Awards regional in South Africa and Nationals in the USA!
EVAN VAN SOEST
In his signature contemporary red shorts, Evan van Soest plants his feet onstage during the intermission before Tamra Chace’s “Moments” production. His arms crossed, he scans the audience. But he can’t stand still. Sudden impulses coming from deep inside sends him into unpredictable steps, tricks, leaps, and unforgettable tilts! With suppleness and precise timing, Soest ceases to surprise everyone!
The 22-year old from Hartbeespoort South Africa joined Chace Dance Company in 2013. He couldn’t have for seen the epic role he would play in the company’s debut production, “taking on such choreography takes depth, gravatas, confidence, and risk,” says artistic director Tamra Chace. “Soest falls into the company’s work like he was born for it.”
FAYME HATTINGH
When Fayme Hattigh began taking classes with Tamra Chace at various studios in Pretoria, after such a short time she stood out from the rest of the dancers. “She has such an intense drive to be the best,” says Chace. “How engaged she was in learning as much as she could.”
Now 26 and steadily engaged in Chace Dance Company as a professional dancer, Hattinghs appetite for dance knowledge is no less voracious. Her performance quality is astounding and brings such intensity to the table, this girl is one to watch!
JOANNE LIEBENBERG
One of the most captivating new faces on the Gauteng’s dance scene, Joanne Liebenberg offers a fresh take on grace. Using her long limbs with a studied precision, she is not afraid to let stillness, tension, and the quieter part of dance have a role in her work. Today she is carving her own path as an independent dancer and company member of Chace Dance Company.
KAYLEE MCGINN
For such a tiny little dancer Kaylee Mcginn packs a punch on stage! Her explorations of stillness and transformation pulse with ferocious intensity. South African born and raised, she skilfully blends her backgrounds in ballet, acrobatics, and contemporary dance. This benefits her greatly in Chace Dance Company, with choreography that is once meticulous, primal, and physically demanding. Currently Mcginn is on her way to the USA for an international dance competition.
MICHELLE VAN DER NEST
She may be from Pretoria, but there is a delicate refinement to Michelle Van der Nest. With her stong features and soulful eyes, she projects the calm poise often associated with Russian Ballerinas, There’s a legato beauty in her movement and steps. Her breakthrough was a long time coming, it took a dance company that challenged her to blossom. With her clean ease of technique, Van der Nest can suspend in the air, or twist or turn in any direction! But what sets the Chace Dance Company dancer apart is her willingness to open herself up emotionally to creative experiences onstage.
SAMANTHA DE CHAVES
Samantha de Chaves gives Chace Dance Company’s eclectic repetory both elegance and pizzazz: Her innate musicality can transform any movement into kinetic storytelling. De chaves never lets the “wow” factor of her expressions get in the way of telling a good story on the stage. In the company’s lastest showcase at Roodepoort Theatre she created enough fireworks in her solo performance (regarding multiple personality disorder), that it brought tears to audience members eyes. It has been awhile since South Africa has seens this much virtuosity with such substinance.
TAMSYN DEXTER
It’s rare to find a beautifully classical dancer who can also, well… ‘get down.’ Throughout Chace Dance Company’s triumphant 2014 season, 14-year old Tamsyn Dexter impressed with her crisp, elegant lines.
Dexter began dancing at age 7 in Acrobatic Dance. She later went on to train in Ballet and Contemporary. She has won various awards at American Dance Awards, and Dance Star South African competitions. Dexter joined Chace Dance Company in 2014, she has realized the full force of this company and the importance of the legacy we are all building together as dancers, and Tamsyn Dexter is a major part of it.
TAMRA CHACE
Chace Dance Company’s artistic director Tamra Chace is flying high this season not only onstage, but behind the scenes growth as well. Graduating from The University of the Arts, five years later the 26-year old American is choreographing and dancing feature roles in the company. Not because of her high kicks, but because of her creativity, speed, and thrilling stamina. Even when she was a student she showed an unusual intensity and maturity in pieces by Scott Jovovich (Fosse), Brian Sanders (Junk), Ronen Koresh (Koresh Dance) and Christine Cox (Ballet X).
Read more about these dancers in our company bio tab in the menu bar above (www.ChaceDance.com).
Chace Dance Company 