Dancing for cash

For many people, dancing is mostly for fun, nothing else. But the advent of social media has made people slowly realise that dancing is an art which can generate income.

Some social media platforms such as Instagram are now paying artists who are good at this art as long as their videos get views.

Many young women, dance moves and taste for good music are turning their dancing into real business on Instagram.

This seems to be the statement if thousands of TitTok videos of young women dancing and posted on Instagram are anything to go by.

Today, many young women are posting videos of themselves dancing on Instagram and they command huge following.

The young women often dance or twerk to popular and trending beats such as Buga by Kizz Daniels of Nigeria. There are also dance challenges to other popular Afro beats and rhumba music that are awash on Instagram.

According to an Internet search, twerking is a sexually suggestive dancing characterised by rapid, repeated hip thrusts and shaking of the buttocks, especially while squatting.

Luke O’Neil, a journalist from Boston, US, who has written so much on music says:“Twerking has become a catch-all for an overtly sexualised style of dancing wherein one manipulates the hips and posterior in an often hypnotic and physics-defying bounce.”

Musician Queen Sheba is one of Malawian artists with twerking skills. Besides posting her sexy pictures on social media pages, the artist also posts videos dancing. Chiwanda is one of her popular music videos which showcases her twerking abilities.

In an interview, Queen Sheba said she looks at dancing as art worth being paid for.

“At the moment, I have just started, but I am sure that soon I will be counting my dollars. I am still building my fan base,” she said.

A snap review of Chiwanda video, which features local musician Wikise tells how Wikise got “uncomfortable” with Sheba’s twerking prowess.

Internationally, Nastya Nass from Ukraine is another world-class social media phenomenon who has more than seven million followers on Instagram where she posts her twerk videos. She is a model, fitness coach and twerk dancing teacher.

She made a name with her first twerking video posted on social media in January 2016. Since then, she has been making various dance videos, including the popular Dura/Daddy Yankee Challenge.

On many occassions, she has confessed how she makes money out of her dancing.

Lizzo, real name Melissa Viviane Jefferson, is another is internationally recognised dancer.  She is an American singer, rapper and songwriter.

“Apart from her popular songs and candid Tik Tok videos, Lizzo is worshiped worldwide for her incredible dancing skills,” wrote Alicia Vrajlal on refinery29.com.