As a South African of my generation, We wear our wheels with pride is not just a dance performance, it is a return to images many of us have seen and partially remember. I recall holiday trips to Durban as a child and watching with amazement at the well built amaZulu rickshaw pullers. They were decorated with colorful beadwork, which amaZulu women specialize in making, ostrich feathers, cow horns, and sandals made from recycled and repurposed car tires. They had a smile on their face, even on a hot, sunny, and humid day as they awaited tourists to hire their services and, in a jiff, take off as soon as a tourist, or a couple, sat in their rickshaw. The trip was not just for the sake of transport but a performance as they rolled, skipped and moved gracefully to the amusement of the riders and spectators. Histories sit beneath that spectacle? Dignity and defiance lived inside bodies made to labor under colonial modernity. The rhythms, humor, color, and contradiction will feel unmistakably South African.

For South African audiences, the piece is a reminder that our streets, our performance traditions, and our collective memory carry stories that are still moving, still unsettled, and still deeply alive. For international audiences, the piece tells a story of resilience, pride and amazing artwork.

Teboho Moja is Clinical Professor of Higher Education, Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development.