All dressed in white, dozens of dancers — some with crutches or wheelchairs, and others on adapted tricycles — performed to pulsing beats under the twinkling lights of the Eiffel Tower at the opening of the Paralympics on Wednesday night.
The event took place at Place de la Concorde, after a grand parade along the Avenue des Champs-Élysées from the Arc de Triomphe at the symbolic transformation of Paris from the Olympics to the Paralympic Games.
An estimated 65,000 spectators witnessed the outdoor event.
Then, suddenly, the upbeat tempo changed , marked by South African dancer Musa Motha stepping forward on centre stage, balanced on his right leg. Raising his white crutches to the sky and looking up into the spotlight, the dancers scattered around him as he began a breathtaking solo performance. “It felt amazing,” he told the Sunday Times on Friday from his home in Vereeniging after arriving back in the country.
“It was a poetic moment about being out there, controlling the narrative of the world. It was about me stepping forward as a leader, representing my community as we would like to be seen by the rest of the world.”
But while he now enjoys global fame, Motha’s journey from the back streets of Sebokeng to the world stage, has not been easy. When he was only 10 years old, he lost his left leg to osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer. His illness was discovered when he suffered a leg injury while playing soccer.
It was a poetic moment about being out there, controlling the narrative of the world. It was about me stepping forward as a leader, representing my community as we would like to be seen by the rest of the world
— Musa Motha, dancer
He had chemotherapy which burnt his lungs, damaged his ear drums and impaired his heart. “I was sick for a very long time, but I am not sad or emotional about it. It happened when I was very young and I didn’t understand everything, so when they suggested amputation as a solution, I was OK with that because I just wanted to get on with things.”
Undaunted and undeterred, Motha not only learnt to walk again with crutches, he became a street dancer and part of a group that hustled and travelled and performed all over.
His talent was spotted and he was taken into a dance group and got formal training in contemporary ballet, and he received no special treatment. “We were young and hungry, and we took big risks. We had this big vision to go overseas,” he said.
So, when the Ballet Rambert, the dance company he belonged to, moved to London in 2022, Motha moved with it. While part of a professional crew, he entered Britain’s Got Talent as a solo performer.
His life took a dramatic change when — for the first time in the competition’s history — all four judges joined together to break the rules and collectively gave him a golden buzzer for his performance, rocketing him to immediate, international fame.
After that life-changing event, he continued to work with his crew on various dance projects around the world. And then late last year, Motha received an emailed invitation from the Paris Paralympics, asking him to be part of the opening ceremony.
By that stage, he had already moved back to South Africa — the home he missed badly while living in London, and where he is now permanently based, though he travels frequently. “That sparked a conversation, and in April we were ready to begin with rehearsals,” he said.
This week’s glittering performance may have once again seen Motha gain global attention, but he describes it as “a performance like any of my others, something I treat with respect and a way to connect with people”.
He doesn’t regard it even as a milestone event, but rather another step forward on a journey towards his growing dreams of starting his own dance company. “There’s lots happening. Nothing has stopped. This is just another step, with many more to come.”
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