Finally Home Johannes Radebe

from facing setbacks to thriving comebacks some assembly required is all about The Head and the Heart and that mushy space between them some might say that the lucky few Among Us find a passion early in their lives but what we often forget when making a statement like this is that a passion and a purpose also come with struggles we see a pristine architectural Masterpiece and forget how the structure tormented The Talented artist or we watch a gymnast flick Flack her way across the Olympic mats and forget the immense pressure that she feels or we bear witness to a South African dancer taking center stage in front of a live British television audience wearing black high-heeled patent leather boots strutting shimmying and high kicking to Blondie's Rapture and forget the adversity that he faced to get there now that South African dancer JoJo is finally home Johannes thank you for sitting down with me [Music] I am followed so thank you for the introduction never in my life have I had my life explained in how many seconds was that we're not timing that's beautiful thank you Sean thank you only a pleasure I am so honored to have an opportunity to sit down with you and I there's so many questions that I need to have answers to thankfully your book details so much of your life but before that high-heeled patent leather boot dance on the UK Strictly Come Dancing how long had you been part of the show's cast and how did that piece of choreography come about okay okay we all we are all aware that I've done this in South Africa for three years it's two seasons of of Street to come dancing and then it went off to be Dancing with the Stars and then I was invited here for a year where I did not have a partner and it was the second year that I was in the UK that this opportunity came about then when I say opportunity they we normally do group dances every single year but there's particular dance when the concept was was being told about what we're going to do for the for the entire series I remember just talking to my choreographer the choreographer at the time and she said this is what we want to do this is where we're going this is what we want to represent and I was just like oh Jesus now all everybody's going to know about my life and I think you know it took a couple of days for me to because they were like you don't have to wear these heels but we're just saying if you wanted to here's an opportunity I was like oh my goodness I mean I won't have I won't have to be doing it in my bedroom anymore now I want to do it you know in front of the world and I knew what that moment meant for me because it was my coming out moment you know for to my extended family you can imagine all the uncles and the aunts in Far Away areas that are still asking about my wife and kids I knew that they were sitting at home watching this and thinking what the hell but it was it took a lot it took a lot of of of just processing it all and just coming to terms with the fact that okay fine this is it you know and it was gorgeous and it was glorious when it happened and you really have stepped into that moment I mean we met because your dance partner on the South African version of Strictly Come Dancing was part of my radio show team way back then Leanne Williams and you have glowing things to say about her and she has only the best words to use from her vocabulary every time she speaks about you uh you tell so many great stories in your Memoir JoJo finally home I need to know the process of writing the book what was that like for you I I can't imagine someone being a prolific note keeper but I also can't imagine someone having a memory like a fortress your stories are so detailed oh you know what this is that's the beautiful thing about it Sean because um in writing and I was back home at the time um and I had an opportunity to sit down with my family and recall and reminisce about the past you know because as you can imagine I might I might have lost out on a few things that has happened but also an opportunity for us to address what we've been through in life and take account of that and that was that what that's where the details came in you know because like I say in the book you know for the first time I sat down with my mom and I spoke about you know her marriage to my father and why she stuck around in that abusive relationship for such a long time it was interesting to hear where she was coming out she was risk coming from with it and I and it had to take this long for us to come to terms with that do you know what I mean because we are always growing so I've got my family to think because they've been on this journey with me um they really really have from day one of writing it um and and yeah I said it's really also left us in a better place as as a family um for doing it try and take me back to the early years what was it like for you to grow up in the Township in zamdela the sites The Sounds the feelings what is that emotion what stirs up in you when you think back of the early years living there home was was always home filled with love um Joy compassion you know um always felt safe that was a thing but the truth of matter is it was boring and I was it was stifling do you know what I mean for the fact that I did not have a childhood like any other child like I couldn't play in the streets without being without being antagonized so to speak so the only places that I felt safe was at dance practice and at home because school also turned out to be a nightmare you know it was just like can I ever exist you know in a world that accepts the fact that I'm a bit happy and a bit flamboyant you know but it was never it was never an opportunity for me so I have to say my early teenage years I really it felt I felt isolated you know um it was hard to make friends it was really difficult to make friends so the ones that I had I'd slang onto and I'm sure they were sick of me but you know that that's what we did and of course when I found dance it was it was an excuse it was an excuse for me to to to escape and I always called as my refuge because it really really was whether whether the kids that they were there or not I know I knew somebody would have been there so that's where I would run to and spend all my days at um and it was it it it it it I did that for a long time you know and I think that is why I'm still doing it today thank God for that because I think I would have dropped out Sean hey you know it because there were points there were moments in my life was just like what am I even trying to achieve here because even at home you know the whole thing of me dancing they were like oh it's just a hobby it's a phase and it used to crush me because I was like this is what I'm passionate about do you guys want to be doctors and nurses and whatnot I want to be a dancer but of course there was no understanding to that do you know they were like excuse me what uh what do you what did she say and I was just like am I ever gonna find a world where all this could be possible you know what I mean and I'm so happy that I had check it out because like I said it never it never it wasn't fun it wasn't I don't I don't I look back at it now and I'm like yes I'm thankful for my family and friends at the time but it was just it was horrid yeah and yeah there's something about the way you've named the book finally home that has so many truths to it it's not just being in a particular place but it's accepting so many other things of your entire journey I must admit to you that we share a love for dancing for movement but we are very different people that inspired us to step onto the dance floor for me I was eight or nine 1987 the year you were born and Patrick Swayze starred in Dirty Dancing and after seeing that movie I danced on any surface that would hold me I I took up modern dance I had my pointed shoes the guys at school didn't like it very much but I thoroughly enjoyed moving in front of the mirror and and just controlling my body it I have a natural flexibility uh I didn't stick I didn't stick with the dance and I I wish I had especially watching how you have transcended all of those levels uh and it's one thing that I that I kind of regret having given up your story to the dance floor is very different though once you share what inspired you to get up and dance truthfully it was it was never about the dancing Sean you understand this as well coming from from a Township in South Africa everybody can move you know what I mean you play music everybody goes into some dancers for me it was never about that because also it was that when I said I'm doing Cha Cha Cha and I'm doing jave and Pasad people were like oh whatever you know it was like I'm like it's a skill you can't not everybody can do it and nobody ever wants to understand it for me though I have to say it was the drag you know I remember when I first was introduced to a bowl of Latin I these people demonstrated what the art form was to us and they really went to town into putting on the outfit and putting on the makeup and then coming out and presenting this beautiful art form and I remember just searching then going oh my goodness I want to wear that sequined tale quote that's all I I didn't care about anything else and it was then my coach my late coach Ben Lucia who said to me if you really want to wear the clothes then you should stick around and it was through sticking around and I fell in love with it without failing advertise in a way that was unimaginable because I was just like how could how could the world not know about this you know we should all be doing this you know all of a sudden I was just like it it just makes and like you say it made me like when they were when they were bullying and they were teasing I was like I don't care what you have to say you know this is one thing in my life that really brings me joy and happiness and a sense of security and worthiness and that's why I stuck to it but firstly it was never the dancing to be honestly yeah but that I've got to say that's internal strength for me because I couldn't put up with the bullying I didn't enjoy that I cowered under a lot of that and I know you're saying that you know it hurts and it does definitely hurt um but you continued to pursue your dance which many of the others myself included don't that shows incredible personal strength Joe that's that's not just something that everybody has you're quite right those growing in the township most can move and move exceptionally well for you to choose an art form like Ballroom like Latin dancing like the Cha-Cha and The Jive and the passive gobley and learning those skills there's tenacity and there's there's personal strength there that's not just something that you that you do you know you don't just put up with bullying for the sake of it so I know but isn't it funny that it's only now touching my back and say Well done to myself or having people to put up with it you know somebody said to me Joe um how did you do it I said well purely because I didn't have a plan B you know there was no that there was no other way around it and it's just if it and and I I accepted all of that and I dealt with all of that because I knew in my hearts of Hearts I knew this was right where it was going to end up I didn't know you know I remember my father is before he passed on he was like I mean come on now you're in an age where you need to really make a decision about where you write what you want to do with your life and I was like really and he passed on and thank God my mum left me to my own devices and didn't control that because I also think that is the biggest thing when you have people around you that nurtures and supports you I I'm grateful for that because like I said I would have probably walked away from it as well a long time ago and there was a lot of that but it made me happy nothing else nothing else made that dead in that time so that was the only thing and I was not going to compromise that for anybody else do you remember who the first person was that called you Jojo no you know that no no you know because I think I got it in different parts of the world so just because I I left South Africa and I went and I was on a cruise ship for seven years and then I found myself you know doing things in between in here so through that stages people has as has come up with that and said oh JoJo you know okay but it's really just it it really just stuck with me now recently when I've just been around where people has just been like George I'm like really is that what everybody's going with nowadays it seems it seems like it's it seems like it I I think it's your your affable nature you're so warm and inviting and genuine and kind and and it's like it feels very comfortable to call you Jojo and it does I don't have to think twice about it you know like it just it just happens um Joe if if we have to recall some of the things that you've documented in the book would you mind telling me about the time that you auditioned to be part of the cast on a cruise line a dance troupe only to have to have emergency surgery and then nearly miss your flights shown isn't that a story isn't that a story I mean to to even be you know when you it's it's and this is why they this is why this book is important because I want to tell everybody that you are worthy you're worthy of all that you desire because as much as this opportunity came along and somebody said I feel like you could you could do this and stuff like I had I was like I'm not I'm not formally trained you know I I don't have the best training that's what I used to say to myself why would you even think of dreaming and it was through a friend of mine who said to me you go into that audition You're Gonna Go audition for the cruise ships and I'm gonna make sure that you do it and believe me the day that of the Edition I went out the night before I was in it I was at simply blue in bramfontaine parting like there's no tomorrow and because I made up my mind that I'm not going to the audition the following day because I was just like they're never gonna use they're never gonna take you like why would you even think that wear this thing and then I walked in to the audition after a friend of mine dropped me off and said this is what you're doing today hungover and the first section that the choreographer taught us was Latin American dancing and it took me two seconds to scan the room and realized that I was the only Latin dancer in vacuum and you know that came that brought a sense of confidence because I was just like oh they're asking me to do something that I normally do every single day and I I went to town and at the end of that audition I had a job and just how quickly things had moved you know but it was also the whole thing that when they said to me ways were passport and I was like I don't have a passport and they're like well why why not and I was like I've never ever thought of leaving these shows like why would I want to leave home do you know what I mean and it was that when I saw their reaction in their face though and you know this this man at the time sitting me down and saying you know you are very talented and I don't think you know that I don't think you realize that so we are here to to to make you realize your potential obviously but listen go home do the possible and come back even that's why the whole dilemma at the airport you know not have never not not I've never traveled I've never been on a flight that would have been my first time flying to Italy and that is why I almost I I'm I was off booked and the flight was on its way when he turned around to come pick me like that is crazy thinking about it now because in my however years of traveling I've never seen anything happen to anybody so when you start to aligned I can't tell you because when I ran down the stairs after going through security airport to go to my flight and I went to the first class lounge with my economy ticket and I was told that my flight is my flight was leaving and there I was running down the Escalade if I was just like my life is over but in that as well I remember crying to this Canadian said please please help me this is my only chance to get out of my situation unless I'm saying to escape that that I was showing you know that that stifling feeling that I had for all those years in my Township and that's just knowing that and I think it was also now now learning it's like it was my mental health I was really I'm a really happy child but I was not a happy young boy you know and that really bothered me as well because I was fully aware of it even though I didn't know what to do with it so I said to this lady please get me out of here and I remember how according the captain and saying please please please and there I was on a flight to Italy and we lived in Sean I never ever looked back but if you know when you just feel like there's a Divine there's a divine power yeah yeah what's incredible for me reading through the pages of the book how that was a defining moment and then you surpassed that and then you didn't think it was going to get any better and then you surpassed that level and it didn't but wasn't going to get any better than that Joe and then you've surpassed that level can I ask you if you had the opportunity then to sit with 10 year old Johannes yeah you've probably thought about this what would you say to him I would say to him you are worthy you've always been worthy your family absolutely adores you so never for a second does that and with that I would say to him always be yourself and the world will adjust you know because there's times when I try to you know change and alter that somehow right growing up you understand that more now yeah in reflection we surely do you were born in 1987 you spring chicken you fast forward to the year 2013-ish what were some of the things that you had recently endured and were being confronted around that time in terms of what endured insane around the year 2000 around this when you're 13 they're sort of coming your age you've gone from being 10 now you're moving into adolescence some of the things that you were experiencing during that time I think I think the biggest thing for me at the time was was leaving my Township and going to Johannesburg and Adele um living everything that I was comfortable and that I you know I was comfortable with with where I was and and and I just that that that was that has always been my world I don't even know where to go with this but it was leaving home at that that tender age and convincing mom and dad because dad passed away a couple of weeks after I left my Township you know it was having to confront um the the issue of I'm going to Johannesburg to go pursue my dancing career while I finish my schooling that both my parents had to come to terms with you know Mom didn't want me to go because she just did she she didn't want she didn't want somebody else to be looking after me while it is her job as a mother to look after her kids as if she was never going to allow me to leave that house but she she really found that difficult you know and I remember thinking to myself or trying to see a selfish how can you leave your mom you know but and then and then it was my father who thought like I said to you was a phase and was gonna pass but when that moment of me having to leave the township came you could see the the resistance you know it was like what do you think you're doing and that that really hurt at the time as well um but I had a I I had I had a goal as soldier speaker you know I really just wanted to dance and be good at it but I moved to another Township you know and this time around it was a colored Township little black Township and you can imagine that came with its challenges as well do you know what I mean because I don't want to tell lies with kind of communities I don't know what happens there there's just you know there's just there was a confrontation that you could not deny you know and and people are much more vocal like I said at school for me was like why why do these kids have an opinion because where I come from you there would have been a shambach you don't speak back to the teachers like where yeah in the new setting it was just like it was just a bit too much but it was also having to come to terms with that and I was very young I was at 13 14 you know some say being away from my family being away from the loving supporting security of my family yeah and there's a lot that happens in those formative years a lot of our our core beliefs start being formed around those times about who we are about where we fit into the world about what we're capable of um and you're being removed from that support structure as you've known it for so long and then almost adopting a brand new family living in a home that was constantly being filled with people an entirely different School an entirely different Community social structures and um trying to maintain a dancing career trying to build on the skills that you have always having this vision of it hopefully being able to take you somewhere yeah no no guarantee no and there's no guarantee in life so let's put that caveat there as well but you've turned things you've turned things around very well for yourself and in your writing I must say again is so easy to read I really felt like I could hear your voice while I was reading it at times I almost imagined myself sitting in a chair opposite you as you were reading out loud it really felt like you were in the same room with me yeah and and at times I got angry with you and there were definitely times where I I had to Chuck back my own tears because it really is it's moving in so many parts and I I can't help but wonder how many times you've replayed moments then leading up to you've now mentioned you know leaving home and your father passed away a few weeks thereafter what would he have to say about you know the things that you've achieved since his passing do you ever think about stuff like that I do I do Sean and it it brings me to tears it really brings me to tears because I do wish that he was here to and you know what you because you will never know right you will never know what what what what he would say or how it would take all of this happening and everything um and I think that is that is a sad thing about life um but I rest in the fact that on his deathbed you know he could not even talk the poor man but I do he was my father and it was it was through him showing affection to me that I realized because like I said in a book you know I had to wait for my father to be to be drunk for me to have access to him while that day he was very sober um and there was affection you know um oh God I'm feeling emotional it's been a lot today Sean I'm sorry no [Music] okay so that so that I've lost my train of thought now that's that's perfectly fine we're asking you to reflect on very hard things so it is listen it is it is it was hard and it's still hard and I think today more more than ever like I said to my agent you know I'm an author today you know um that is huge do I wish that my father was here yes I wish my mother flown in I wish my sister see how much and Martha was here um and unfortunately I'm in the United Kingdom now you know by myself I'm surrounded by love and Friends yes I am but you know this is my family that I'm talking about and I've gone on to do great things in life and they've never been able to be in the same space a time as me when all of this is happening so it has really been it has really been hard honestly and every time I had to revisit these stories with my cousin having to have done what he's done a couple of weeks ago it has really also just opened up wounds you know um because For the First Time I said my favorite because I've been preaching this to them I said you all need therapy and they laugh at me because you know as black people I said I said I said you guys need to go to therapy so to hear my cousin who's lost his brother I wish my brother was still alive and we went to therapy when my mom passed away I don't think it would have been where we are so I think you're for insisting on that and thank you waiting for paying for it because I think it's not even sometimes the fact that we don't want to do it it's just that why would you want to pay for therapy when you're in your stomach so I'm blessed to be in a position now to be able to see that through for them yep mentally whatever they need I'm very very very grateful very happy and I know they are too I know they are too you make mention Johannes of so many dynamic characters in your book uh you quote um poor as saying don't step off that Podium Johannes that is where you belong yeah in the book I got the impression that those words washed over you at the time yes they did so when did you start believing her statement you know it was it it happened later later on later on when I started realizing the injustice and the politics within the dancing world you know um when when you were told by your adjudicators and everybody that was legendary and iconic at the time in the dancing world that you are never gonna amount to anything because of because of you know I mean when you look at it back now you're just like yeah because I'm black and poor you know what I mean like I mean how do you even how do you explain that how do you tell kids that they're never gonna win because they don't have they're not they're not well groomed you know I mean you should know my situation and understand where I come from and see beyond that let's look at the talent it's not what I'm wearing but when I started really went growing and learning and that was hard for me that really really was hard and it took it took it took osimpo to say it a couple more times not only once but a couple more times for me to sit with it and like okay fine you know this does not define me and this was not this does not define me as a dancer as well because I I'm passionate about what I do and I love what I do and I'm great at what I do you know you know what I mean I needed I I needed to get to a place where I understood that for myself and I did and I always kept quiet about it you know I was like you don't have to try the rest of the world that now you can keep it to yourself you know to say that you're great nobody has to know you can know that for yourself and I think that was that was also the power in all of it you know to say it's I'm worthy it comes bound to that right it really is and yeah and and I never never stepped down because I knew that I could have been on that Podium if it wasn't because of all these other factors you know as I'm saying I couldn't be but it was because of yeah just prejudice and I feel sorry for them you know and I look back now and I'm like thank God I stack it out because if I had to listen to them Sean can you imagine no I don't want to imagine thank you very much I'd rather not that the themes that come out for the from the book for me Johannes themes very much along the lines of acceptance accepting where you are where where one is at any given stage of their life accepting who you are accepting what you are worth and accepting what it is that you value most and then being able to to channel into that um it does make me want to ask how do you cope with pressures are the pressures internal pressures to achieve and succeed at things or are do you not feel pressure at in any way shape or form to because you're now a bit of an icon my friend you say that I think I think you've stepped into that realm um so I don't want to I don't mean to put pressure on you yeah but is there a way that you cope with making sure that the pressure stays at Bay you know you can't come from where I come from and and all of a sudden I don't know how to put it but where I come from humbles me it really really does and I'm grateful for my family as well because they they they really know how to bring me down to earth you know so I don't think without I think without them I wouldn't have been I wouldn't I wouldn't be the man that I am today that's that's the that's the truth that's the reality you know and that is why it's important for me to always come home and and just touch base because it really sets me up for whatever it is that I need to do because when you're reminded that you don't need to go out into the world and seek validation you know when we're constantly reminded of that you do stand in a certain power you know what I'm saying and and that's it and then and that's it my darling I don't allow I can't because also I realize that the pressure always comes from the outside neck from the inside out you understand what I'm saying so if if if you don't allow yourself to do that just check all that I mean you can but it happens you know it will come to you whether you want it or not but I think it's important for you to sit back and then and and then and then take what you want to take and discard what it is that doesn't work for you you know it's it's a beautiful sentiment to say that it comes from the inside and those external things you're not seeking that validation and that's not driving you it's whatever's inside that you that you feel you you want to achieve or accomplish or strive to to do um I'm going to ask you to play a little bit of a game with me here I'm looking for one word one word to try and sum up each of these years in your life and I'll start with the Year 2007 is there a word that sums up the Year 2007 for you um learning 2012. growth 2015 happiness 2018 content it's going to say 2020 but we kind of Let's Go With It Anyway transformative and 2023 finally home love it love it Johannes last two things what has the world not yet seen of dojo oh no sure that's a tough one do I even know probably not no more freedom more Unleashed freedom and exceptionally Unleashed freedom freedom unleash to the power of five who knows right the power of 100 listen honestly that I mean there's just three things that are happening in my life and that I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not denying that at all this today being one of the highlights of my careers honestly I didn't think that when I say career as if you know it's a thing it's a thing it's a thing for Charles young boy to be an author and to really disrupt myself and so I have to say there's moments in my life that come um and I'm just like whoa I I've never ever thought that this would be possible and now here it is you know so we're gonna see what's gonna happen as time goes by you know I love it you never comes left with it you know by his grace to still be on this planet if I say I'll do my best that's what you can do right um once you hold that book in front of you again and remind me who is the book full okay okay you will see here most the most most important thing for me is that to my mama you know as I'm saying and I said today in an interview earlier on I said it's it's it's for her it's for her love it's for for what she imparted on on us as a family it's the it's the sacrifice and the compromise and when you when you understand what that woman has been through in life you just kind of like you start believing in human angels if you know what I mean um and yeah I mean and I hope everybody also is inspired by it all and reading it but honestly this is to my mama and there's no other way to say thank you to her honestly I don't know I don't know what what because I tried throughout the years and I don't even know whether this is still enough Jonathan I'm saying but I'm glad that you know people will also now learn that it doesn't only always been me you know it's it's my mom like she she's the person that has that has really fooled the dream so I always have beautiful from the earthy streets of zamdele to the glittering lights of London and everything in between congratulations Johannes thank you congratulations thank you for your time Sean thank you this is absolutely beautiful thank you

Channel: Sean Loots

Views: 17,756

Keywords:

Id: ATbSqtH-Q_8

Length: 36min 41sec (2201 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 05 2023