Musa Hlatshwayo was born and raised in Maphumulo; a rural area not far from King Shaka ’s grave in KwaDukuza. He is a performing artist, choreographer and creative/artistic director of his own company; Mhayise Productions. Musa holds a BA Honours in Performance Studies (UKZN), an undergraduate certificate in Contemporary Dance and Choreography from the Copenhagen School of Modern Dance and a post-graduate certificate in Dance in Education from UKZN. His work is studied in various tertiary education and training institutions where he continues to appear as a guest lecturer, exam moderator and creative researcher.
Musa’s speciality is in researching, creating, staging and producing cutting-edge and socially-conscious contemporary dance theatre and environmentally friendly multidisciplinary site-specific work. He also facilitates engaging creative workshops in arts festivals, schools and alternative or creative learning spaces where he fuses Afrocentric (conventional and non-conventional) approaches to performative contemporary and cultural and artistic expression that sees voice and body as one. of his major achievements include;
– the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance for the year 2018
– an honorary Award ‘The Eric Shabala Dance Champion Award’ by the CCA and Jomba in recognition of his contribution to the development of dance in KZN
– KZN Dancelink’s Choreographer of the Year in 3 consecutive years
– Extensive commissions and grants to create new work by various international festivals
– Extensive tours in Africa, Europe and America.