EC duo win ACT scholarships
[caption id="attachment_227278" align="aligncenter" width="630"] Hlumelo Yawa, left, and Mampho Letsie[/caption]
Two Eastern Cape matric pupils were awarded sought- after scholarships by the Arts and Culture Trust (ACT) at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg earlier this month.
Of the 12 finalists who gathered at the Market Theatre hoping to walk away with scholarships to study either music, dance, drama or musical theatre, Port Elizabeth’s Hlumelo Yawa and Aliwal North’s Mampho Letsie were two of the four lucky ones.
The pupils were selected by their school teachers and advised to apply for the scholarship, with the top 12 applicants selected to compete in Johannesburg in front of a live audience and a panel of judges.
Alexander Road High School pupil Yawa, 18, won a scholarship in the musical theatre discipline after being advised by her drama teacher, Greg Everard, to apply.
“We were there for a week and were assigned a mentor for each of the four disciplines. Thereafter we had to perform [solo] pieces, as well as group pieces,” Yawa said.
The multi-talented young dancer, singer and actor said she had applied at the Waterfront Theatre School in Cape Town and that was where she would use the scholarship if she was accepted. She has not yet heard back from the institution concerning her application.
“I’ve always been interested in music and drama but I only got exposed to musical theatre in Grade 12 after my drama teacher noticed my potential and advised me to join musical theatre,” she said.
Everard said he found it an important duty as a teacher to show confidence in his pupils as they often needed guidance from their leaders to believe in themselves.
“I’ve taught Hlumelo since Grade 8 and I’ve always seen in her the kind of passion you don’t often see in young performers.
“Her stage presence draws you in, so it wasn’t really a big surprise for me when she won the scholarship because I knew the judges would also see what I saw in her,” Everard said.
He said Hlumelo’s passion and potential resembled that of his former pupil Usisipho Nteyi, who won the ACT scholarship in 2014.
Grey Lady Arts Academy pupil Letsie, 18, said from seeing how talented the other competitors were, she did not expect to win in the music discipline.
Also having learnt about the opportunity from her teacher, Letsie said the win meant a great deal to her as it would inspire her community.
“This will not only impact on me but also on my school and community as I had the privilege to represent the Eastern Cape – and coming from a small town to a big competition like that can change my life forever.”
Letsie, who hopes to use the scholarship to study at either the University of the Witwatersrand or AFDA in Johannesburg, said the competition did not start off well for her as she forgot her lyrics and dance moves during her audition.
The Arts and Culture Trust is South Africa’s premier independent arts funding and development agency which primarily aims to increase the amount of funding available for arts and culture initiatives.
The trust awarded each of the four winners a R50000 scholarship to study at their preferred tertiary institutions in South Africa. Additionally, they will get the chance to be represented by Canvas CAM Talent Agency.
