Dancing in the Dust

by Kagiso Lesego Molope

Fiction. It is the turbulent 1980s in apartheid South Africa, when even the ordinary life is full of danger and uncertainty. Tihelo, a thirteen-year-old girl lives with her older sister Keitumetse and their mother Kgomotso in a township outside Pretoria. Life in this brutalized South Africa holds mysteries of other sorts. DANCING IN THE DUST is a moving story of growing up in a fearful, oppressive society, where the only comfort for the young is dream and romance, and the only free option that of rebellion. Kagiso Lesego Molope was born in South Africa in 1976 where she also grew up, before moving to Canada in 1997. DANCING IN THE DUST is her first novel.

Genres: South Africa, Africa, Novels, Fiction, Young Adult, Historical Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

Reviews

[Mj · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dancing in the Dust is the debut novel of Kagiso Lesago Molope, a black woman born in Atteridgeville, a township just outside of Pretoria, South Africa. Apartheid and segregation were still in place during Molope’s youth. Officially apartheid ended in the early 1990’s and a democratic form of government was introduced in 1994. Molope moved to Canada in 1997 when she was 21.

The book is fictional but reads a bit like a memoir. It seems like the story of Tihelo, a young teenager when the story begins, could have been the story of Molope.

Tihelo lives with her older sister and mother in the segregated township set aside for blacks. Her mother works hard and long hours cleaning the houses of white women so the two daughters do not see their mom very much but it is clear that they all love each other very much. They live in poverty with respect to physical amenities but have a wonderful community in the township that looks out for their family, particularly the children when moms are not home. These neighbours are aunties, uncles and retirees who keep a very close eye on the children - particularly important because school is constantly being cancelled, leaving children home alone. White police officers make frequent visits to the townships looking to arrest children and adults who they have deemed to be creating trouble. This novel gave me a real sense of the African saying “it takes a village to raise a child.”

I thought the writing was wonderful - both expressive and impactful. Molope does an excellent job of describing feelings and emotions. I could feel Tihelo’s anxiety over her sister’s unplanned pregnancy and its surrounding issues and also her relief as her mom cuddled her. After her own life changing time in jail, Tihelo is particularly fearful of the police, not just for herself but for her friends in the resistance movement. Every stroke of her hair by her mom soothes Tihelo. Like all teens, Tihelo had friendship highs and lows.

She loves school and learning and had a strong desire to learn more and graduate. She had a voracious appetite for learning and wanted to become a journalist and travel the world. It was likely the multiple cancellations of classes and therefore her ability to get educated that motivated Tihelo more than anything to change from a respectful teenager obeying all of the white peoples’ rules into a resistor. Her anger at the inequities, violence and cruelty finally motivated her into very active resistance herself.

This statement in the book’s description from the publisher Mawenzi House says it very well.

“Dancing in the Dust” is a moving story of growing up in a fearful, oppressive society, when the only comfort for the young is dream and romance, and the only free option that of rebellion.”

[Antje · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kagiso Lesego Molope is a great storyteller. That's for sure. She knows to create her characters in an incredible lifelike way. I did not only see Tihelo - the fourteen-year-old narrator of this story - in front of me but I could feel her rage, desperation and shame. Furthermore I started to admire her new maturation and courage after the fatal attempt to help her sister. This amazing development of her personality was THE key scene of the whole plot to me. And all those things that happened after that . . . there are no words for the emotions I felt while I was reading them. It is a (hi)story that needed to be told and that must never be forgotten!!!

[Nyashadzashe Chikumbu · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Well crafted book , Molope makes incredible use of 'easy going language' to create strong images and a powerful narrative that recounts the story of a young girl's abuse at the hands of a brutally racist regime ; the fight of school going children for justice. Dancing in the Dust in a compelling easy read that takes you at the heart of South Africa's fight towards democracy and a multi racial system.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book should be read by every Caucasian South African. Especially so you know what you are asking of the people in their 40s and 50s when you say we should "move on" as a country.

Its really well written - in that sense its easy to read and to connect with the characters. But it's a hard read emotionally - as can be expected.

[O'Train Disene · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a road that I know for sure you want to tread on. If you want to feel and experience South Africa's lives through reading, then book is for you.
Most importantly, if you have enjoyed reading How To Kill A Mocking Bird, and enjoyed exploring through the young girl's perspective, this book is the one for you.

It is a book that is led by Tihelo Masimola, a young, ordinary and curios girl who is facing internal and external challenges that she though they could only be solved by her. In an ordinary township, pre '94, when South Africa was having laws that discriminated black people. Tihelo, who was brought up in a black dominated area, was to be proved wrong that in life there is no grey but black and white.
Friends, acquaintance, neighbours, and families are tested in this amazing story. Tihelo was to see that no one stays with you forever and that sometimes you will grow out of those you used to call your everything.

I found this book by mistake on the floor in the library while rushing out with my classmates; decided to read it and wow I must say. I fell in love with Kagiso's penmanship that I had to go back to the library and search for her work, and guess what? I am now reading 'The Mending Season'

I am rating it full FIVE STARS. Everything it is just perfect in there. The characters, the storyline, description in overall, and the book cover.

Grab it & you would never be sorry, I promise you.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fantastic book, and should be much better-known than it is. Set in a township near Pretoria in the tumultuous 1980s, it tells the story of Tihelo, a young teenage girl living with her mum and older sister. At first she's no fan of the protests and disruption, only wanting to go to school so she can become a journalist and escape the township. However, the brutality of the apartheid regime is inescapable, and her need to defend and get justice for her loved ones pushes her into the resistance. It's a powerful story which goes to some dark places, and I think it gives a good insight into what South Africa was like at the time (at least, speaking as someone whose own knowledge of that time is cobbled together from year 11 Geography classes, conversations with my partner's South African family, and what I learned from the Hector Pieterson museum in Soweto). It's notable as a South African novel actually written by a Black person, which is bizarrely difficult to find considering the demographics of the country. And I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to get into reading novels about South Africa, as indeed it's been (BY FAR) the most engaging of all the ones I've read. Enjoyable, significant, and deserves to not be so obscure.

[Galaletsang · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is exceptional! It gives us the perspective of a young girl who experiences Apartheid but also has to deal with losing her bestie to a multiracial school. She also tries to get darker because of her light skin, always wondering why she looks different.

Spoiler; her mom is actually her aunt who adopted her after her father "committed suicide".🙂

[Nomava]

👌👌👌😢😢👍👍👍

[Ottlie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book. Tihelo is a realystrong young woman.
..

[LeAnne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Apartheid is ancient history as far as modern South African teens are concerned, but this apartheid era story has much to say about family relationships and finding the courage to act on behalf of what is right. I wish the ending had done more to capitalize on those themes that would make the book relevant to 21st century issues. Instead, the ending stops with how awful apartheid was. This is very true (along with the evils of the Nazi era in Europe), but for a book to have something to say to this generation, it must demonstrate more universal themes that apply in any historical situation. Dancing in the Dust starts to do that, but falls short in this readers estimation.

There are some very strong (realistic) scenes of violence, some sexual in nature. This is definitely for mature readers, not for children.

I also wish African writers would learn to show their story in scenes that let us experience it along with the characters instead of telling it in first person monologues. Some scenes with tremendous dramatic potential were simply lost this way. Molope has great potential in her story conception. I hope she will continue to develop her skills to reach a larger audience.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a well-written and interesting novel set in an African 'township' near Johannesburg in the 1980s during the 'height' of apartheid. It is narrated by a teeneage girl, Tihelo, who watches life declining around her as members of the township engage in violent opposition to the apartheid government and are wickedly punished by the regime's vindictive and sadistic police force. Tihelo, who has a far paler complexion than those around her including her mother and sister, worries about her paleness and also becomes involved in revolutionary activities. Eventually, she is arrested and tortured. Near the end of the book, she learns something that surprises her very much.

This novel provides a frighteningly realistic glimpse into what life under apartheid was like for 'black' South Africans, and is well worth reading.

[Meloe Andile · Rating 5 out of 5]

i want to start reading now

[Khahurendwe]

I think this book is amazing

[Rejoice · Rating 5 out of 5]

A highly captivating prose creating vivid aspirations about hope, alienation and a quest for identity in a country suffocating from the oppressive nature imposed through apartheid.

[Mckinley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts are difficult to read, but it's worth reading.