A matric student from Cape Town is set to represent South Africa at the World Champs for Performing Arts, AKA the Talent Olympics! We had a chat with Aksana and The Stage Performance Arts Studio to learn more about the budding star.
Cape Town, South Africa (16 April) — Budding actress Aksana Matokazi from Brackenfell is making a sparkling name for herself in the world of performing arts. In July, she’ll be heading to Los Angeles to compete in the World Champs for Performing Arts, AKA, ‘The Talent Olympics’, representing South Africa.
GoodThingsGuy sat down with Aksana and her principal at The Stage Performing Arts Studio to talk about her incredible achievement.
Of Aksana as a student, Yolandé Rabé (her principal) could only sing her praises.
“Aksana started with classes at The Stage in Grade 6 (she is currently in Grade 12). She is such a versatile young performer & does Drama, Dance, Vocals & Musical Theatre at The Stage. From the young age of 11 we could see that Aksana has a special talent, and we are fully invested in helping her sculpt her talent. She is a hardworking young lady – such a joy to work with.” —Yolandé Rabé.
The studio decided to participate in the Western Province of Performing Arts – with the main goal to represent the Western Province at the South African Championships of Performing Arts. In 2022, they participated in the Championships where Aksana won Best Overall Vocalist, and the Overall Senior Grand Champion title!
This led to her fully paid scholarship to represent SA as the “main champ” in the World Championships in LA. Now, Aksana will join the likes of former student Braden Buys who represented SA at the World Champs for Performing Arts in 2017 and she’ll hopefully follow in the footsteps of 2022 local winner, Vongai Dhliwayo.
Where It All Began
Aksana shares that she’s been involved in the performing arts (drama, dance, vocals & musical theatre since she was 9.
“I was inspired to pursue acting by watching people act on television and I remember always wanting to be the one who people were seeing on their screens, because those people could capture so much attention from the people watching the television and bring them together by making them laugh or feel a variety of different emotions. I loved being on stage, even in grade 1 I loved performing in school concerts on stage and then later my father introduced me to on stage drama and from that moment I genuinely fell in love with the performing arts completely.”
Of her challenges to the achievement, Aksana shared:
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“The most challenging thing I experienced during my time at the competition was after many of my performances I had a lot of doubt and I didn’t feel as if I had performed to the best of my ability genuinely because I was striving to perform in the most perfect way possible and another challenge was not comparing myself to other people who I believed did absolutely amazing.”
Her advice for others that have felt the same, she shares that the most important lesson is to accept critique from various people (coaches, family members and friends) and always work on your ability.
Of her excitement, she says:
“At first I was so extremely excited and overwhelmed with joy that I genuinely could not believe it. After sharing the joy and excitement with my coaches & team-mates. The first thing I did was call my parents and then tell them the incredibly unexpected news. To this day at random times I will remember that I am actually going to Los Angeles in the USA and it still shocks me.”
About The Studio that Helped Shape the Actress
The Stage Performing Arts Studio is an established performing arts training institute in Durbanville. With a fully-fledged triple arts program, performers are able to hone their skills in the arts as well as academics. Run by Yolandé Rabé & Marika van Heerden, the co-principles and founders of The Stage, their goal is to create pioneers for the performing arts industry with a focus on the emotional well-being of their students in the demanding field.
Students who have completed their studies are currently in the music industry, and have danced overseas in countries such as India and Spain. The Stage prides itself on successful graduates being featured in TV Series, Films and Radio for media platforms such as KykNet, Netflix, RSG and Showmax.
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