Monday, November 4, 2024

Mophato: bringing the 80s back

Imagine the combination of Sofia town music and a live rendition of Sarafina dance theatrics!
Envision performances by pretty little ladies in school uniforms, boys dressed as maids, some dressed as miners!

All these acts formed part of a dance group eager to win P50 000 in cash. With stage performances like that, there was no doubt in the mind of the attendants that they deserved to have walked away with the prize.

That’s what the Mophato dance group brought to the local stage recently when they were battling two other contestants to be the finest winners of the battle for well over 15 years of the competition.

Mophato emerged champions of the competition with singer Tshegofatso in tow.
Botswana obviously has a star in the 18-year-old girl – the way she controlled her voice was fantastic.

With a voice coach, she can go far!

Unfortunately for her though, her stage performances were nothing compared to that of the champions.

Fifteen-year old Moonga, who joined the competition two years ago, became position three.
For the night, he sang a song he wrote himself. Although he started off a bit shaky, he did very well after the song took off. His singing shows that with age his voice will mature.

As usual, the Royal Tenors seduced the crowd with their performances. The trio is becoming quite a common and pleasant site at corporate events where they are always received with warmth, especially from the ladies. One cannot help but expect nothing but excellence from them.

Even though the venue was different and the room was smaller, the show was well organised.
“I have a habit of coming back to this place,” said guest star, Vicky Sampsong, as she made her way to the stage.

Ever the star of the evening in her elegant gown, Sampsong is the inspiration for the show, which is named after one of her famous timeless songs, “My African Dream.”

She was also the guest star at the show’s finale last year.

She sang three songs, two of which were not her own and finally left the stage after her recital of the song that made her a famous face in the 15 year old competition.

The woman’s voice never ceases to amaze! She had the crowd on its feet by the time she bowed.
She talked about how hard she found it to judge other people with talent because they were all good at what they did.

The show was comprised of six performances even though the top three had already been chosen.
A group that didn’t make it to the top 3, Flexi-ville, was another crowd favourite. The way their dances were co-ordinated and the energy they put into their performance made them come off as a group to look for in the future.

However, at times it looked as if the stage was too crowded or that one of the performers would fall flat on their face because there was just too much activity going on in their performance.
The same cannot be said about Jika-Jive, who received a luke-warm reception from the crowd mainly because they didn’t put much effort into their dance moves.

At the end of it all, it was another memorable experience from the MAD crew! The presenters were also a marvel to watch.

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