South African Dance “Endangered” By American Hip Hop

“Pantsula is the language of the township. Complicated rhythmic formations, gangster swagger and tsotsitaal (scamto) make up the vocabulary of this edgy dance form. … ‘The American influence is like wild fire, destroying everything South African,’ says [Bongani] Linda. Hip hop, he says, is becoming increasingly popular and this is leading to the downfall of ‘pure’ pantsula.”