Ballet, Bundu and the Bach Choir reflect the Beat of Africa

By Ruth Coggin

The email address was intriguing: bunduballerina@….** Most email addresses are somewhat predictable, like joeblogs9876@gmail.com, for example.

So how did bunduballerina@….** come about? The owner of this unique address is Johannesburg Bach Choir member, Andrea Wilhelm who uses it to identify her YouTube channel, The BunduBallerina by combining her two passions: ballet and the bush.

Andrea’s is no ordinary YouTube channel, with nearly 70 000 subscribers and 40 million views since she started it in 2009. That’s a big following and viewership in anyone’s book.

Subscribers come from all over the world, including Japan, the USA, Russia and Europe. What pulls them together in this huge virtual community are Andrea’s highly appreciated ballet postings that she draws from around the globe. For example, ballerina Natalia Osipova’s Amazing versatile fouettés was posted on the day of the interview. Among the many comments it received was “Thank you BunduBallerina… Thank you for posting such beautiful dancing.”

With such a passion for ballet, it’s not surprising that Andrea also has a love of singing. She joined the Johannesburg Bach Choir in 2022 following the Covid epidemic after her mother saw an advert on Facebook for the choir. Andrea comes from a musical family. Her late grandfather, Joseph Horitzaüer, was well known as a classical and Spanish guitarist. She has always loved singing and in her teens took part in amateur musical performances with a Parkhurst-based group, The Garage Players. This had her singing arias and Gilbert and Sullivan choruses with gusto.

Andrea danced from her youngest days until she was 27, when insufficient turnout (a ballet term indicating rotation of the leg at the hips) brought an end to the physical aspects of ballet. Apart from classical ballet, she also danced Spanish and classical Indian. Her skills were shown through successfully passing through the ranks of ballet exams up to Advanced 2, described as being for dancers with high levels of skills and professional dancers.

Growing up in the Western Cape until the age of 10, Andrea’s love of the bush or bundu undoubtedly came from living on a farm in the mountains surrounding Worcester. She vividly recalls leopards, baboons and snakes of the farm. A memory that stands out is narrowly escaping the company of a leopard as the family made their way down the mountain, with Andrea on the back of an open bakkie!

Professionally, Andrea is a qualified IELTS tutor and makes a living from teaching English skills to students for various purposes, such as obtaining visas to study overseas.

Not content with what she has already achieved in life, Andrea also aims to learn to play the lute. So, watch this space: Future performances of the Johannesburg Bach Choir may well be accompanied by a lutist!

*Ruth Coggin is Assistant Choir Director and accompanist of the Johannesburg Bach Choir and holds an honours degree in pipe organ and clarinet from Wits.

**Andrea’s full email is not included to protect her privacy.