Babes Melts Hearts With Dance Moves

Babes Wodumo swirls across the packed patio like a whirlwind. She is pulled to the left, then to the right, asked to stop and pose for a selfie by Arthur Mafokate. She has the industry wrapped around her proverbial little finger. Everyone wants a piece of the lanky, svelte attractive lass who pops out of the crowd in an orange, body-hugging dress. Her long hair in a shade of blue earns her more

curious stares. The 22-year-old does not break a sweat as she nonchalantly gives the gum in her mouth a lazy chew and shuffles her way through the admiring crowd. 'People think I'm stupid' - Babes Wodumo on the misconception of female dancers It's high noon, literally, and we're at Emoyeni Conference Centre in Johannesburg for the MTV press conference. The place is crawling with celebrities. Babes has come in from Durban to make an appearance, upstaging all the rappers, veteran musos, and industry heavyweights - judging by the stampede she is causing and a scramble for photos. After a moment trailing her, we finally find a quiet place to chat. She could have been a Miss SA on any day, I tell her. She laughs and says she was, in fact, a model. I love how, when I ask her questions in English, she responds in Zulu without batting an eyelid. "UBabes is a humble girl who loves God. What makes people like me tick is that I come with something different. "My music is not kwaito, it's called gqom in Durban. I am the first woman to bring gqom, and I have mean dance moves," she introduces herself. Her real name is Bongekile Simelane. She became known as Babes Wodumo (the famous Babes) after she ran at school, modelled, and sang and acted in Uzalo in the small role of hustler girl. For the past month or two, Babes has cast a spell on the industry with her music, thanks to the monster hit Wololo, which is one of the most played songs on radio, and her energetic dance moves that rival the Boom Shaka girls of the 1990s. On YouTube her video is sitting on over 1.1million views after only more than a month of its release. On Instagram she's earned more than 100000 followers. It's clear that Babes is the industry's newest fascination after featuring on some of Big Nuz's songs such as Desha and Tsegetsege. She has been called "ratchet", and it's a label she does not run away from. "Yes, I am ratchet vele. I grew up in Lamontville township. I'm loxion culture. I'm a girl from the township who danced and was known for that. I'm carefree. I respect and love myself and I love people." But she runs the risk of being misunderstood as "loose" or "immoral" by those who are judgmental. She isn't bothered. "Some people may look at me and say this 'sfebe' [slut], 'these kids who are nude...', but when they sit down with me they realise that when I'm on stage I have to perform. I don't go around dancing like that, as if I'm mad. As long as my parents accept me, I'm not concerned about what other people think of me". It's fascinating that Babes's father is a pastor of Mount Zion Faith Mission in Lamontville and Port Shepstone. For a while, he had sleepless nights with the "wayward" daughter who danced. "My father didn't understand this. I was different from my siblings. He'd say 'this child, my Lord, what did I do? Why do I have a child like this who dances and does all these things that we don't do in this family? But he did turn around and accepted me as a parent." She says her father prays for her whenever she travels and her mother loves Wololo. "It makes me happy to see my parents supporting me like this - it makes me want to push harder." She is flattered by the attention she generates though. "It scares me how much love I'm getting from fans and artists. They ask me for pictures, the likes of Mafikizolo and Arthur. I wanted to get to Arthur's dance school and now we're here taking pictures. Sometimes I pinch myself. It's such an honour." She says her career highlight was when superstar rapper Cassper Nyovest asked her to wait for him to arrive before she performed at KwaMax in Umlazi. "And I was like, haaibo, he's a hip-hop guy. Why would he want to see me? He stood there with spectators to watch me. That was special. He even used my song in his set," she gushes. Babes's mission is to build her father a church in Port Shepstone. "I always wanted to be of help to others. When I grew up my father used the word 'others' a lot, and that stayed with me. I learnt early in life that you don't live for yourself, but you're in service of others. My dream is to build the church and an old-age home by the time I'm 28, to take care of the elderly who are neglected." Her album is set to be released by December.