Sara Greenwood

15 July 2021

Although she makes dancing through life seem effortless and idyllic, Sara Greenwood knows that the sting of injury and rejection can be overcome only through perseverance and adjusting to circumstances. The confidence and exposure she gained at Curro grew into a lifelong passion for dancing that sees her on the precipice of opening her own dance studio.

Sara – who comes from a family of dancers – nearly gave up on her dream of a career in dance when she suffered a great knee injury in matric. She had to turn down her acceptance at UCT for dance studies and instead entered the hospitality industry. However, after later travelling overseas she returned to start teaching hip-hop to children at DanceCraft Studio. She recently expanded to more styles such as contemporary, lyrical, stretch and technique, and acro dance.

Returning to competitive dance took great patience and self-talk. ‘I still have my knee injury but worked hard to rehabilitate it and had to adopt safe techniques and stretching. I also had to learn how to adjust my movements and routines to accommodate the injured area,’ she said. Her determination paid off last year when she came first in the bronze division at the SA Pole Sports Federation regional competition. This year she won a slew of medals and the overall trophy at the SA Championships of Performing Arts for a variety of arts. In addition, she and her students were selected to be part of Team South Africa at the World Championships of Performing Arts in Los Angeles.

Teaching roughly 65 dancers of various ages is no easy task, but Sara finds it rewarding. ‘My teachers built my confidence by exposing me to various competitions and they always believed in me and pushed me to my full potential.’ She hopes to mirror their influence in her life by guiding aspiring dancers in Curro to build a future in dance, or simply answering any questions they may have.