Go ahead and dream - Nhlanhla Ngobeni

 

 

 

 

"Nonotjie, get off the table...it's not a stage!!! And that's a cup, not a microphone." My mother said these words day after day, year after year, until her face turned erythraean. There was very little she, or any other member of the family, could do to stop me. They had no choice but to make peace with having a "special" child in the family. Every time we had a family braai or any other family gathering or celebration, I would put my Doctor Martins on, plastic cup microphone in hand, and hit our guests with some Boom Shaka and a little bit of Michael Jackson. They would cheer me on and litter the floor with cash, which would make pocket money for months. Maybe all they saw was a cute chubby child fooling around, but I took my work very seriously. Every performance was preceded by hours of rehearsal. I felt like a star.

I started school and it didn't take long for the teachers to pick up my talent. We were in grade 4 when the teacher asked us to do a poster showing what we aspire to be when we grow up. My poster was the most colorful, just as I saw it in my dreams. It showed me on a stage with a microphone in hand; stars, music notes and TV screens floating all round. All other normal kids, showing bigger ambitions and a greater sense of purpose, aspired to be doctors, pilots and all that other cool stuff. So as you can imagine, I definitely stood no chance of getting the biggest gold star for that project. I was however, a star in my own right, as I sang in all the choirs, played in the orchestra and starred in the school plays. While all my friends went to play, straight from school I dashed to church. That was my happy place because there I could actually grab a real microphone and sing my lungs out. At that time nobody, not even I, knew that it was a training ground, creating capacity for a dream that was burning violently inside of me. The dream to be a world class performer, shining on the biggest stages, radio and TV.

With age, the dream became clearer and brighter. When I matriculated I knew exactly what I wanted to study in varsity, but convincing my parents proved to be like climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in 10 minutes. A career in performance arts simply didn't make sense to them. I needed to get a "real job" and perform as a hobby maybe on weekends. I don't blame them, they were just being parents and wanted what was best for me. The lesson I got from it, is that your dream is your dream. Nobody can dream it for you and nobody can live it for you. It won't necessarily make sense to others, and sometimes not even to yourself. You have to learn to be the player and your own cheerleader because others may not understand your dream. You have to be totally sold out to your dreams because, in the words of Eleanor Roosevelt, “the future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”. I was crushed but the denial to study what I wanted didn't kill the dream, instead it added fuel to the fire and caused me to take action. I remembered a sermon from my pastor when he said "write down your dreams and plans. Believe with all your heart that they will come true because nothing is impossible with God. Pray over your dreams and speak them to life". So with those golden words in mind and faith like a child, I made five posters and put them on my wall. Of the five, two were focused on my career as a performer. The one written "Broadway, here I come" and the other "Hollywood, get ready". I know it sounds retarded but I would wake up every morning, as a quantity surveying student, and speak over those words. I found lectures rather laborious and whilst all other good students would sit there and attentively listen to teacher ramble on and on, I would sit there thinking how they are all such a wasted audience. Thinking how awesome it would be if I randomly stood up and burst out in song and bowed to their deafening applause.

To cut a long story short, the time came when I was granted the freedom to do whatever I wanted with my life. So there I was, a young man from Giyani, in the big city of Johannesburg. All I had was a dream but had no idea where to start. I started at the bottom, and when I say bottom I mean bottom. I joined a casting agency and did little jobs as an extra in TV commercials. It was nothing to sing home about and definitely not the kind of stuff that would settle the bills. As big a guy as I am, I felt very small. At this point when people asked what I was doing with my life I didn't know what to say. As difficult as it was, I had to endure because I knew it was a crucial part of the process and character building. Collin Powell reminded me that a dream doesn't become reality through magic; it takes sweat, determination and hard work. I believe that when you are faithful with the small things, you create capacity for greater things, and so I excelled in the small roles I was given. A couple of feature roles along the way did my confidence a bit of good because at least people could say that they saw me on TV. The dream kept burning and the dreamer in me refused to be complacent because I knew that bigger things were yet to come.

After almost two years of being a struggling artist, I was working with an amazing theatre production called Die Empty, when a friend of mine told me about auditions for a big Disney production. After countless unsuccessful auditions, the mention of yet another audition was not going to send me leaping for joy. When I later found out that the auditions were actually for The Lion King, I had ten thousand more reasons not to go. I had heard that thousands audition and they only take a small number like 20. With so much talent in Johannesburg, who was I to make a cut of 20? At least 100 would inspire a bit of confidence. I had also heard that even the ones that make the cut do so after multiple attempts. The day before the audition I was sitting in my room and the words on my wall shouted at me. I remembered that the Lion King was actually a Broadway production. I knew right there and then that my time had come. I read out the words on the posters with immeasurable conviction and prepared myself to go and show Disney what I was made of at the audition. With my first audition I made the cut and went to Brazil to do the show there for 2 years. Only God knows how beautiful that experience was. I share this story with you right now, sitting in a fancy hotel in New York City, getting ready to make my debut appearance in the most amazing show in Broadway. Now let's all take out our guns and shoot the guy that said dreams don't come true.

I share my story with no intention of bragging about anything. I don't share my story because I think I have "arrived". I do not share my story as the secret to success to the 10 steps to living out your dreams. I am just a young man who is totally sold out to his dreams and wishing to encourage others who will dare or will at least try to do the same. Go ahead and dream. Dream in color, HD, 4D or whatever rocks your boat. The good thing about your dream is that it's yours. Nobody else can put limits and restrictions to it. You are never too young or old to dream. Go ahead and revive even those dreams you got discouraged and allowed to die along the way. I'm encouraged by the fact that many of the things we enjoy today; be it the Internet, television, cellphone... the list is endless. All those things were once dreams. Thank God many of those wonderful inventors refused to go to their graves with their dreams not shared with the world. I chose to be in the winning team, the dream team. This team could do with many more members like you. When you see me starring in those Hollywood films, don't say I didn't tell you so. At least you got the heads up before the rest of the world.

"Reality is wrong. Dreams are for real." Tupac Shakur