Shine on, spread your light don’t hide it!

For Kurt Minaar, three dreams are all it took to get his ball rolling: travel overseas, open a dance studio and stage a dance production.

So far he has successfully nailed the first two and will now be ticking off the third when he stages his production, This Little Light Of Mine, at the Artscape Theatre this weekend.

Drawing on dance credits that include representing South Africa in France as part of Ubuntu Dance crew in 2008 and being the SADTA Hip Hop Champs winner of Release crew during 2008 in Las Vegas, his dancing has also seen him bust moves for Idols singer Gift Gwe as well as Chad Saaiman.

The flair and passion of his dance talent is not one that he tapped into from birth as most talented beings attest to. In fact, Minaar didn’t know he could dance early on in life and would instead appreciate the art from a distance.

“I would always watch friends at school dance and knew that I loved it. It was round about my last year in high school that I tried it and saw I was actually good at it. I had an old mat outside my house that I would practice on; I would just pray and start dancing,” says Minaar.

Later on when he began competing in dance competitions he soon became an established favourite for his signature popping and locking moves, while perform-ing under the stage name Pink Kurt. “In competing, I needed a name and I loved wearing pink and that time I found Jada Pinkett very attractive too,” he chuckles.

Apart from opening his own dance studio, the African Hip Hop Dance studio, to equip young students with accomplished moves, Minaar is also a qualified high school teacher. He regards his teaching acumen as a platform for personal transformation.

The hip hop dance production, This Little Light Of Mine, is an exploration through dance and music, serving as a call to heed your passion. Innovative, physically challenging and emotionally uplift-ing; it is an invitation to rekindle life’s adventure.

Minaar explains that the story centres on a schoolboy who dares to dream about being an international dancer. “It returns to moments from my life. As I came on to dance one day, I was kicked accidently in the face and the children laughed so I never did it again.”

That embarrassment however was short lived when Minaar went onto fulfil his destiny.

Through incorporating various hip hop dance styles, including popping, locking, vogueing all the way to breakdance, Minaar says it is more about telling a story through emotion. “We had to see what song was going to work for the emotion. It’s not always about your moves but rather the feeling that comes through from a place of emotion.”

That too helped spur the title for the production – from watching inspirational movies like Remember The Titans, Coach Carter to Freedom Writers.

“There’s a Christian gospel message to it that everyone can relate to. To keep shining through all the bad. If you don’t succeed then dust yourself off and try again. Dream again, start something.”

• Show times are on Friday, at 8.15pm, Saturday at 2.30pm and 8.15pm. Ticket prices are R50. Book at Computicket.