The Saturday McGregor Dance Project
The McGregor Saturday Dance Project has been going on for several years now. It began way back in February 2023. The First Step Ballet is a project founded by Mary Corpe Silver, bringing dance to the McGregor community. Mary invited a selected group of Dancescape South Africa dancers to join their Saturday Classes, twice a month. It has been a big hit, and our dancers really enjoyed it and have all gained tremendously. It was also very good for them to interact with another group even though they are very different in ethnicity and background. Nqaba our head teacher, goes with and teaches the more contemporary style classes with Mary focusing on classical ballet.
Above: The Dancescape South Africa / First Step Ballet Project collaboration
The studio would meet in those early days at the local NGK church hall. Oftentimes there would be performances to show the development of the dancers and Mary has accumulated a large following making these performances well supported in McGregor. In 2024 a wonderful thing happened. A project called The Symbulon Charitable Trust managed to build a brand-new performing arts facility in McGregor. It’s a magnificent building housing 2 enormous studios. Mary’s group began using this building instead of the church hall and our dancers would join them in the scheduled Saturday classes. It is wonderful to dance at the new facility. A grand opening was held with a collaborated performance in November of 2024. Kristine Elliott and her team of teachers have used the building to host several workshops.
In Late 2025, Mary decided to take less of a teaching role in The First Step Ballet Project. Malindi Shields is the new teacher. The collaboration with Dancescape is still in place and Nqaba is happy to work alongside Malindi.
Above: Malindi Shields and Mary Corpe Silver
Below: Nqaba Mafilika and Kristine Elliott
In March of 2026 there were severe storms in South Africa, and many parts of the country were damaged by wind and floods. Unfortunately, the main bridge linking McGregor to the outside world was washed away, meaning that our students couldn’t get to classes. At the time of writing this page, the bridge has not yet been fixed. We expect it to be completed later in the year. We hope that all will be restored once the bridge has opened again. This project is of great value to our students.
Above: The floods of March 2026 washes the bridge away.
Above: Students from both schools at the ballet barre.
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