Meet Justone Du Plessis | Star Dancer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Justone Du Plessis and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Justone, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
I really believe in what is meant for you will find you and really the arts did find me.

I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life. I was kind of just a leaf flowing with the wind and then one day we had a Talent show at my high school- now bare in mind that I was an extremely shy boy at the time but something in me said to enter the talent show.

I always loved music and I loved to just move my body to the music and sometimes at family braais I would just dance and my family would cheer me on. So I knew that people enjoyed watching me dance, and that led me to enter the talent show. Because surely if people see me dance then I could gain a little bit of popularity and be with the cool kids. Hahaha! I guess that was where my head was at.

I entered the talent show and I ended up winning that night. A whole R200 prize money. But it wasn’t even the prize money or the winning that had me hooked. It was the behind the scenes. It was the time spent on coming up with a story and with an outfit and rehearsing my performance that had me absolutely bursting from the soul. I had finally found my purpose in life!

Unfortunately, my parents didn’t have the means to send me to classes and frankly my father wasn’t thrilled at the idea of his boy dancing. But like all teenagers I followed my own head and I didn’t let ANYTHING stop me.

I used to walk to shopping malls to use their free wifi- so I don’t use up all of my data. I watched YouTube videos around the corners or sat on the floor, trying to memorise or download it offline to try it later. The moment I got home I would connect my phone to my little boombox and try all of the moves on our front lawn.

I have an incredibly powerful sense of determination inside me and soon enough people started noticing it and it led me to where I am today. And I want to be able to share it with the world!

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I think at the core of who I am and what has shaped me- and probably many incredible artists, is a sense of delusion. And it sounds crazy to say, but in order to overcome intense trauma and rejection you have to be delusional.

You have to believe that what you have experienced in life does not define what you are capable of doing. You have to believe that even with no means of achieving that dream that you will still achieve it somehow, someday. You have to shut out the enormous amount of rejection and still believe that you are “that b##ch”.

What has helped me along the way is reminding myself that I have the power inside me to achieve any and all of my dreams regardless of what anybody has to say about it. And that is truly the way of a brilliant artist or really the mindset of any human who wants to achieve any modus of success.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
There’s something about Long-beach that I love. And its not just the beach because obviously I love the beach but its almost like a quick escape from the city but with the city still in view. Its like taking a breath of fresh air on a balcony of some skyscraper with the chaos of the city right at your feet. I would take her on a little scooter ride around long beach and the cute houses around that area.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
There are so many people I owe my success to. People have extended their helping hands to this small toy boy for many many years. It would be impossible for me to name them all!

But I think at the root of all of these people, lays true South African hearts of gold. We truly are a Nation that help people, regardless of what others opinions of us are. We are some of the most kind people in the world.

To my incredible “rainbow Nation”:I am forever grateful! You have made many of my wildest dreams come true! I love you!

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