The inability to verbally express his battles when hurting has led Le-Clue Job to acrobatic dancing to deal with his emotions and control how he reacts to circumstances around him, since he is a non-confrontational person.
Job (22) said this after winning the overall prize and the performing arts section at the recent #BreakFree ‘Arts for Activism’ show, organised by the #BeFree movement of the Office of the First Lady as part of this year’s 16 Days of Activism campaign currently underway.
“When I am going through stuff, I like to keep it to myself and just deal with it on my own. But dancing helps me release those emotions and express what I’m feeling without saying a single word. It’s just so amazing that I can get to do that,” he told VIBEZ!
Job added: “I hate being confrontational, so dancing has helped me feel my emotions and express them. It has helped me heal”.
Before venturing into acrobatic dancing, Job wanted to do gymnastics, but after seeing Australian singer and songwriter Sia’s music video for her hit song ‘Chandelier’, he was inspired to start dancing, and he began dancing in 2015.
The self-taught acrobat is studying accounting but has put it on hold to pursue dancing.
He was assisted by local professional dancer Nikhita Winkler with technique training for contemporary dancing.
Job has since gone on to win two gold medals and one silver medal at the 2018 World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, USA.
The following year, he won the Senior Grand champion and overall champion awards of the Namibia Championships of the Performing Arts.
Dancing to Lady Gaga’s song ‘Till it happens to you’ at the Arts for Activism’ show, Job pocketed N$30 000 in total, while Frans Uunona and Lydia Kandovazu scooped N$10 000 each as winners in the visual arts and fashion categories, respectively.
He plans to save as much as he can from the winnings but will do a bit of travelling.
Job’s overall goal is to continue enhancing his craft one way or the other, and stated that competitions such as these are good for those in the arts industry, since not much attention is given to creatives.
“I don’t think enough investment is put into the arts industry. I look at other countries and I see how much investment is put into their arts scene. It does not even have to be money; space for artists to express themselves and show their work is also a form of investment,” he expressed.
He said Namibia does not have the unifying force of promoting local art in all forms, adding, “We don’t really have places where artists, especially visual artists, can just express or show their work in the towns or cities or just all over the place, where people can see it. Secondly, I also don’t think much investment is put into performing arts”.
These sentiments were echoed by First Lady Monica Geingos, who before the show said the arts industry in Namibia is not as properly supported as it should be, adding there are a lot of young people from across the country who are struggling with unemployment despite the fact that they possess certain skills.
“If we want to deploy these creative skills they have, we must make the art sector a viable economic sector for young people to participate,” she stated.
The ‘Arts for Activism’ show, which this year celebrated volume two, aims to capture attention and influence the culture of addressing issues of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in Namibia, using art as a medium.
Speaking at the show on the night, gender and child protection specialist at One Economy Foundation Veronica Theron emphasised the need to work with young people, including artists, and the importance of using art as a tool.
“We use art because it is a key component in the therapy that we provide to survivors of sexual violence,” she said, adding it is important to give creatives ample opportunity to do what they do best and instil some hope.