My Life, My Dance, My Soul

Gregory Vuyani Maqoma became interested in dance in the late 1980s as a means to escape the growing political tensions growing in Soweto, South Africa, where he was born. He started his formal dance training in 1990 at Moving into Dance, where he, later, became the Associate Artistic Director in 2002. He founded Vuyani Dance Theatre (VDT) in 1999 while undertaking a scholarship at the Performing Arts Research and Training School (PARTS) in Belgium, under the direction of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. Maqoma has established himself as an internationally renowned dancer, choreographer, teacher, and director. Greg has received numerous awards, among these the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for dance in 2002; the Tunkie Award for Leadership in Dance (2012), the New York City’s premier dance award, a “Bessie”, for Exit/Exist for original music composition (2014); and the Chevalier de L’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres (Knight of the Arts & Literature) Award in 2017 from the French government. Maqoma celebrates his fiftieth birthday in 2023 and he has curated a number of legacy projects that he will be revealing as the year progresses. Lorato Trok is an experienced early literacy expert with over 20 years of expertise in publishing, writing, editing, translation and story development for children’s literature. She began her career as a children’s librarian and has worked on notable projects such as the First Words in Print initiative and Room to Read. Lorato has received awards for her translations and editing work. She has facilitated writing workshops internationally and presented papers on children’s literature. Lorato is an accomplished author of children’s picture books and young adult biographies. She is actively involved in various boards and initiatives focused on promoting literacy and advancing African publishing.