The origin of Mafa Dance Village grew from the creation of a former dance company called Zamdela Dance Theatre that was conceived in early 1993 by Mr. Mtimkhulu Seroto, an extraordinary leader who embraced the vision of building a place for youth to explore recreational arts and culture as a way of healing at the height of a hostile and traumatic time in Sasolburg Town, in Free State Province, South Africa during the colonization of the Apartheid system. The Zamdela Dance Theatre association provided access to local young dancers, teachers, and choreographers.

In late 1994, the Theatre was formally constituted by Mr. Tony Campbell and Ms. Mpho Cjhepape at the Zamdela community hall under the tree outside the library with roughly 30 students. Over time, it changed names from ZAPAP ( Zamdela performing Arts for People) to ZAPAC (Zamdela Performing Arts Center), which became its staple name. Since it rebranded to Zapac, the Center's resilience experienced significant progress empowering youth to reconnect with their cultural community roots.

As part of a collaborative effort to not let these achievements and performance standards be lost in history, ZPAC became ZDT (Zamdela Dance Theatre Company), a dance theatre made up of 12 students, boys and girls of all maturity and skill level. The company dancers are trained to practice and capable of teaching various disciplines native to ZAPAC dance forms between the ages of 17 to 25 years. The mission was to establish a cultural hub with the administrative foundation and resources to foster the dance culture and develop audiences through classes, workshops, outreach programs and performances. The ZDT team was driven to be a World-class theatre that helped unearth young dance talents through positive enablers of innovative activities to support emerging youth professional development. The Zamdela District Council funded the physical infrastructure; however, much was still to be desired without funding for the theatre's ongoing operations.

After moving to Canada in 2008, Zamdela Dance Theatre operated under Mafa Makhubalo, a member of ZDT, as Uhuru Dance Theatre until 2012. Since then, it has been reincarnated as Mafa Dance Village.

We're thankful for the leadership and our historical roots. Mafa Dance Village is compelled to continue the dreams as our founders' living legacy.