MARTHA THE DANCER

Everyone is moved and motivated by something to get out of bed and go on with their day. The same goes for the 25 year old Thamaga born Martha Leshetla popularly known as Martha the Dancer in her socials.

Martha blew social media as her dancing career grew to new heights by taking advantage of the COVID-19 bleak moment the world was going through. She introduced many young dancers to Amapiano dance which drove her to being recognized ad praised by people in South Africa.

She started dancing at the age of 12 in 2009 when she was introduced to the world of Latin American dance as part of exotic twist dance sport club, during an interview she mentions that she believes God used one of her aunts who is well known as Fitty Letty to kick start her dancing career.

“One day I went with her to one of her dance rehearsals and I came back home a new born dancer because afterwards I never stopped coming for rehearsals. Truly it was a matter of showing up,” said Leshetla.

When she started her dance career, she focused on Latin American dance which led her to taking part in competitions such as my African Dream in 2009 and won in two categories being Hip-hop and Latin under Exotic Dance Sport Club, Latin competition in 2012 by did not win, grandmasters competition and she came in second place. She also took part on a Latin competition South Africa such as Rumba in the Jungle.

As she was sprouting into an amazing Latin American dancer, she wanted to explore other dance styles as she knew she would master then as she did with Latin an uncommon dance in Botswana. Immediately after finishing high school Martha dedicated her time to exploring other dance styles like hip-hop, Afro fusion, Krump, contemporary and other dance styles which came knocking at her door step.

“Because my goal was and still to be as diverse as I can, however I find myself doing more hip-hop, contemporary and amapiano at the moment,” added Martha.

JOURNEY INTO “THE WOMEN KING” MOVIE

As God works in mysterious ways, Martha found herself as part of The Women King an upcoming American historical film inspired by the true events that happened in the 1800s. The movie stars big Hollywood names like Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, Lashana Lynch just to name a few.

Her role in the movie was being part of the heroic Agoji warriors as a stunt performer under Stunteam Company co-founded by Grant Powel from Cape Town who is well known for choreographing fight scenes and coordinating hit TV series and movies including the African Netflix original Queen Sono, Scorpion King 4 and 5 and Resident Evil among others.

“I was not discovered by Sony Pictures, let’s say God connected me because it sounds almost insane thinking about it and that’s all I will say,” says Leshetla.

Her acting career did not begin in the Hollywood movie as part of the stunt-team but she had her first on camera appearance early 2021 as she was featured in William Last’s skit called Last Words, she also appeared in a silent short film titled Tefo written by Benstar the Cinematographer and also gained experience on working for a bigger scale movie, its capacity and its weight.

Being done with the movie has allowed Martha to continue where she left off which is finding purpose in life, seeking her higher self and helping those around her and who will come after her.

“My advice to anyone interested in my story and what I had to share is that, do not follow anyone, do not copy anyone, invest in finding yourself and pursue that self. But most of all, always put God first,” concluded Martha.