Via Katlehong was established in 1992 in the district of Katelong in Johannesburg, which was a war zone during the big riots of the 1980s. The group was established as a youth company which aimed to work towards keeping young people away from crime and destructiveness. The company is run by Steven Faleni and Buru Mohlane and these days employs 18 professional dancers, but the company is still involved in social work in the local community. By revitalising traditional dance styles from South African townships, they have made styles such as Pantsula and Gumboots, Tap and Step an important part of South African contemporary dance. Pantsula is a collective term which includes fashion, music, dance - a whole lifestyle, in fact - and developed as a point of contact between people who came from both urban environments and rural villages. These included people who served as cheap labour, people who were unemployed or even criminals, but Pantsula emerged from this relatively bloody melting pot, and has become an important influence in Via Katlehong’s characteristic style. Gumboots as a dance style emerged in the early 1950s among mine workers as a form of celebration and protest, and as a means of expressing what was on their minds. This dance style is also part of Via Katlehong’s dance vocabulary.

Via Katlehong is now a company which regularly tours large parts of the world. They have won a number of awards for their work, and are currently involved in the renewal of new dance in their homeland, while at the same time making a mark on the international contemporary dance stage.