With moves featuring a particular sway and bounce, and driven by viral social media challenges, amapiano dance is as distinct, popular and addictive as the music genre it accompanies. 

Kay the People's Dancer, or Kutlwano Molefe, is a Shanghai-based South African choreographer, dancer and performer who is teaching amapiano dance workshops across China, and recently further afield, as demand and interest in the genre grows. 

"I think there is a very great opportunity for us as South Africans and people who love the art form to share the fun, light and happy genre of music that amapiano is. I think we can educate more people about South African music and genres through amapiano, such as gqom, Afrotech, Afrohouse. It's a good opportunity for us to push our brand, culture and music in China," said Kay. 

"I have always had a love for the art of dance and when I came here (to China) to teach English, it was one of my dreams to impart some of my culture, which is my amapiano and street dance culture, to people… Between 2020 and 2021 amapiano was blowing up; it was crazy, it was a wave. I thought to myself, I can dance amapiano, people love amapiano, let's give them amapiano," he added. 

He describes it as a layered dance. "Most of the music and songs are very lyrical and tell you how to move. Many of the dance challenges are either mimicking the lyrics or the beat of the sound. Amapiano dance originates from already existing street dances and other new dances moves that are just from amapiano. It's mainly just us listening to the music and interpreting it according to how we feel and how we feel the song… We listen to music a lot but there is a certain vibe, a certain energy, a bounce that amapiano has. 

"So, trying to teach people can be bit challenging. As Africans we dance with more of our spirits and less of our bodies. So, we have to feel the music before we can dance to it physically. Getting that recipe right of how to teach people to move to amapiano dance has been something I have mastered over the months and years and it's been quite a beautiful journey." 

Dance runs in his veins, shaped by the talents of a parent and time spent dancing in the streets. 

"Street dance is something that comes naturally to me because my father was a pantsula dancer (a South African music genre and culture popularized in the 1990s). I come from the same type of schooling and talent pool. I used to dance a lot when I was younger, just randomly on the streets with my friends, at school. So capturing the essence of amapiano and how to dance to it was quite easy for me. I had to develop my skills and fine tune the bounce and specific rhythm of amapiano. It wasn't really that much of a challenge for me because I'm already an existing dancer and I've been dancing for so long." 

With the end of the pandemic, Kay's workshops have taken him further afield in Asia to Russia, Japan and Indonesia, with more destinations on the cards.  

"I am planning to go to more countries as the year goes by. It's been such an amazing journey – getting to meet new people, getting to teach them about my culture. It's been such a blessing for me to be able to travel with this and teach people and impart love and light through dance."