After accidentally becoming Simon Cowell over the weekend, a shining moment of humanity made one Capetonian thankful for the grey skies. At a competition for dancers and dreamers where the crowd voted, an overwhelming sensation shone through: everyone braved the weather (with nothing in it for themselves) just to support the dreams of others:
Cape Town, South Africa (19 August 2024) — By complete chance over the weekend, I had the fortune of sitting in Simon Cowell’s proverbial seat as a talent judge of dancers and dreamers… accidentally writes Good Things Guy’s Ashleigh.
Now, I must admit—It wasn’t on my agenda for a Saturday afternoon drenched in clouds and skies of gloom (like many other locals, I had plans to spend this kind of weather hibernating). But, what started with curiosity soon turned into the kind of experience so heartwarming, no grey clouds could get in the way.
While I don’t believe Simon and I have all that much in common, we both have an appreciation for talent. And boy, was there a feast of that in Cape Town on Saturday as dancers and dreamers from all parts of Cape Town competed for the coveted opportunity to represent the City at the upcoming Redbull Dance Your Style Nationals.
I, of course, was not the only Simon. What began as me wondering whether Rudi Smit was performing at the V&A soon turned into myself and others in the audience putting our talent judge hats for a dance competition—voting for who got closer to their dream with each wave of our voting colours.
We’ve all watched the breakdancers who battled it out at the Olympics (and we all have opinions on that). But seeing grassrooted talent live is something else entirely. I marvelled as people adapted their moves to every random song without hesitation or preparation. Gasped as they moved their limbs in ways that’d make you think they didn’t have bones. And I clapped loudly and proudly when the dancer who had given it their all and was almost ready to bow out, got the news that they were through to the next round.
But that’s not the heartwarming part.
This battling process took hours. Hours outdoors in weather drenched in gloom. Hours under threatening clouds. In rain and icy wind. And in that time, the audience seats remained remarkably full.
Full with cheers. Full with beaming faces. Full with newcomers and those who had been there since the first battle. The community support for dancers without their names in lights, from people without any incentive to be there and without good weather on our side was immense. People stopped their shopping to come outside in the rain. They whipped out umbrellas. They told their friends. And it got me thinking:
So often when we’re just starting out on taking a chance on our dreams, we can be so easily discouraged by the fear that no one will support us.
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The thing about fear is that it’s almost always worse before the fact. The scariest part is not the performance. It’s getting up the stairs to the stage. And you’d be surprised at how many helping hands will make sure you get up to that damn stage come hell or high water.
In a world where we’re often warned about haters of our success and journeys, there’s not enough credit to the supporters. The strangers who rooted for you right in the beginning. The humble followers who liked your content before you went viral. The friends and family who celebrated your very first sale. The crowd who sat in the rain to help see your dream through.
They tell us to dance in the rain of life’s adversity, but they forget to mention how many people applaud us when we do. How many join?
People do believe in people. Good Things Guy wouldn’t exist if they didn’t! And sometimes, all it takes is being brave enough to say ‘what if they do support me’ to find out just how much people actually care.
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