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Dantanio
Born and raised in the Northern Cape Kimberley region of South Africa, Dantanio’s musical family and gospel upbringing undoubtedly influenced him at a young age and set him on a steady path to becoming
the accomplished impersonator and performer he is today.
Singing and dancing from the age of nine, Dantanio accrued a vast array of performance experience
through his teens and early adulthood, trying his hand at school bands, theatre, cabaret work, corporate
entertainment, composing hit songs for contemporary Pop artists and even producing his own solo albums.
But in 2014 when the coveted part of ‘Michael Jackson’ opened up in one of the world’s biggest MJ stage
productions it was a dream role for Dantanio in more ways than one. As well as allowing him to exercise his
music, dance and theatrical skills, this part spoke to him on a personal level.
Dantanio’s fascination and connection with Jackson began as a small boy when he was introduced to the
King of Pop through his older brother who brought home a copy of Thriller on cassette in 1989. The album
had a sound and feel that Dantanio (indeed the world) had never heard before and with his acute musical
mind, even at the age of eight, he soon became fixated, stealing his brother’s cassette any time he was
gone from the house to play it on repeat and teach himself the now-famous choreography.
It was when he played the tape to exhaustion and broke it that he was ‘found out’ and consequently forced
by his brother to show-off the results of his practice with a performance of ‘Billie Jean’. But instead of the
jumble of awkwardness that was expected, Dantanio surprised his family with a shockingly astute imitation
of the famous song and dance… his talent for impersonation was already evident.
In his teen years Dantanio’s obsessive dance practice continued as he taught himself to emulate every
detail of the Pop star’s trademark dance style. So good was his imitation that it resulted in his
disqualification from an amateur dance competition at age 16 because he was thought to be a professional
dancer.
This overt and genuine love for Jackson was one of the key factors that won Dantanio his starring role in
The Michael Jackson HIStory Show. The show’s Director, Johnny Van Grinsven, auditioned impersonators
from around the world but found only one person had the unique combination of traits needed to fully
inhabit the role – a technically astute voice, exceptional skill and style as a dancer, an observant nature and
obsessive eye for detail, and a physicality that would mould easily to match Jackson’s, plus one special
quality: “Dantanio knows and loves Jackson. Audiences can sense that… at the core of it all he is just a fan
like them and that makes it special, genuine, real.”
Coming ‘full circle’ from his beginnings as an inspired young MJ fan, Dantanio is now fulfilling his dream
touring the world and performing as his idol in Showtime Australia’s The Michael Jackson HIStory Show,
thankful every day that he gets to uphold Jackson’s legacy and to share his music and message of love
with fans new and old.
“It has always been my dream and vision to star as MJ on a world stage, he has given me so much joy and
taught me so much… and he is still teaching me today.” - Dantanio