A Newcastle dancer who came to the city as a six year old refugee from Angola will star in the homecoming performance of dance production The Lost Happy Endings at the Theatre Royal on the 18th and 19th March.
Benedicta Valentina Mamuini, 26, will dance the lead role of Job in her home city, before ending the UK tour at the prestigious Sadler’s Well’s Theatre in April.
Benedicta – known as Benny – will take the stage in front of her parents, three younger siblings, and many of the people who inspired her to take up dance as a career. What makes the performance even more special is, unusually for a professional dancer, Benny didn’t have any formal dance training until the age of 16.
“For me, dancing was just a fun thing I did with my friends – learning hip hop routines from YouTube” says Benny. “It was only when I got to sixth form college at Jesmond Park (then known as Heaton Manor School) and decided to take a GCSE in Dance that I had any technical experience.
“To be performing this role in front of my home crowd is nerve-wracking, but very exciting. My family, friends, people I grew up with and the art community who encouraged me will all be there.”
The inspiration for Benny’s dance career was during a dance history lesson at Jesmond Park, when the school screened a performance by the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre – until then, her plan was to be a midwife. “They performed a dance piece, Revelation, based on slavery and it was the first time I’d seen a group of black female dancers,” she says. “I was completely mesmerised – I wanted to be one of them, and that was the first time I realised dance could actually be a career.”
Benny went on to complete a BA Hons in Dance Professional Practice at Northumbria University, where she studied contemporary, ballet, and a full term dedicated to salsa, jazz and aerial. And, although many of her contemporaries had been dancing from the age of three or four, Benny says she felt completely at home.
“There were some amazingly gifted and technical dancers on the course,” she says. “But I never felt like I wasn’t good enough. I just had a different style. I didn’t compare myself to classical ballet dancers or anyone else, I was on my own journey and I threw myself into it.”
Benny cites many influences throughout her career, including those who spotted her potential from a very young age. “My teachers at Byker Primary and Jasmine Park were very encouraging,” she says.
“Claire Harvey, an amazing teacher who is now an aerial dance performer and runs a BTEC program at Circus Central and Fiona Reed, my dance history teacher who was really knowledgeable and really inspired me. And, of course, Gavin Coward, Debbi Purtill and Liv Lorent from balletLORENT who gave me these amazing opportunities, starting from my apprenticeship until now.”
Benny first performed the role of Job in Edinburgh, shortly before covid forced the show to close. “I’ll be honest, that first time, I was a complete wreck!” she says.
“But as soon as my foot touched that stage, I stepped into the character of Job and became immersed. Dancing becomes an almost out of body experience where I cease to exist and I become the character.”
While Benny’s dance journey has brought her home to a starring role in Newcastle, she is keen to take it much further.
“I feel that because I came to dance at quite a late age, there’s still so much I have to learn,” she says. “I’m still discovering who I am and what I can bring to dance. I’m an African black woman and I want to go back to my roots and explore where I came from. It’s my natural style, it’s how I move, so I want to explore the fundamentals of that.
“For me, there’s always been a part that’s missing and the part of me that lights up is when I see the African diaspora style. That’s when my soul feels complete. I believe it’s my ancestral stirring, in the sense it’s I know that’s where I need to be.
“It’s very important for me to go back to my roots. Although not my home, I’m hoping to go to Senegal, and learn Acogny Technique (Contemporary African Dance) at Ecole des Sables, and explore that whole aspect of who I am. I believe it will make me a better person, and then I can bring it back to Newcastle and share my experiences.”
