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From the live performances and videos I have watched of Gifted Kosie, whose real name is Phindile Dlamini seems to understand this well. She is not content with standing behind the decks and leaving all the movement to the crowd. She dances, engages with the performance and, more recently, has added a dance team to the experience.
It is a style that makes sense when you learn more about Phindile Dlamini, the woman behind the Gifted Kosie name. Her journey into entertainment began with dance, and that background remains visible in the way she approaches DJing today.
Kosie started dancing professionally while she was still in primary school. She later became involved in drum majorettes and choreography, eventually establishing her own dance group, Body Movement Club. She also began working with schools, teaching dance and helping drum majorette teams prepare for competitions.
DJing became another way for her to express her understanding of music and movement, first through the duo Trend Twins and later through her individual brand. These details, reported in a February 2026 profile by Times of Eswatini, help explain why her performances look different from a conventional DJ set.
For Kosie, the music and the movement appear to go hand in hand. A DJ can put together a good set, select the right songs and keep the music flowing. A performer has to think about what is happening around the music, too.
There is the crowd, the energy in the room, the timing of a transition, and the moments when people need a little encouragement to get involved. Kosie's dance background gives her another way to work with all of this.
In the videos available online, and when you actually watch her live, she looks comfortable moving between her role behind the decks and her role as an entertainer. She is visibly involved in what is happening on stage, rather than treating the decks as a place to stand for the duration of a set. Her dancing is part of the performance, and the audience has something to watch as well as something to dance to.
The addition of a dance team takes this a step further. It gives her more room to work with choreography and creates a fuller stage presentation. The dancers are not simply there to fill space. Their presence allows the music, movement, and visual side of the performance to work together.
Her appearance at the Eswatini Farmers Market earlier this month, where she performed alongside a troupe that included content creator LaClicks, offered a recent example of this approach. Local coverage highlighted the combination of her work on the decks and the choreography happening around her.
It is an interesting direction for an artist whose starting point was dance. Rather than leaving that part of her career behind as she develops as a DJ, she is finding ways to use it to strengthen her performances.
Of course, a good performance cannot rely on dancing alone. The music still has to do its job. Kosie's reported musical range includes Amapiano, Afro-house and Gqom, sounds that give her room to work with different moods and rhythms. Her recorded work also shows that she is developing her catalogue beyond live sets. In 2025, she featured alongside LIVIN SZ and Sethu on the Afro-house single Prayer 26. She was also credited on three tracks on Lelo Sounds, Vol. 1, a 2026 Amapiano compilation released through Skyworld Records.
These releases are worth noting because they show another side of her work. Live performances may be the most visible part of a DJ's career, but building a body of recorded music also matters. It gives audiences something to return to and creates opportunities to work with other artists and producers.
Kosie's career has also taken her outside Eswatini. Reports published in December 2025 documented performances in Mozambique, Uganda, India and Lesotho, including a headline appearance at the Maletsunyane Festival. In May 2026, she performed at Afro Piano Groove Edition 2 in Kigali, Rwanda. In September, she was preparing to take her sound to Xurra Fest in Angola.
These are meaningful steps for an artist building her name from Eswatini. Every new audience presents a different challenge. People may know the music, but they may not know the DJ. They may respond differently to certain sounds, or expect something different from a live performance. An artist has to understand the room while remaining true to the style that brought them there.
Kosie has spoken about the importance of learning from these experiences and adapting to different audiences. Her international bookings have also highlighted the role of social media in her growth. In an interview reported by Eswatini Positive News following her Rwanda performance, she explained that promoters had approached her after seeing her videos online and learning about her previous appearances.
That detail says something about the work happening away from the stage. Posting content consistently, keeping people informed about your work and making it easy for potential bookers to see what you can offer are all part of building a career today. Social media may make the work visible, but the artist still has to deliver when the opportunity comes.
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There is a practical side to this dedication. A performer who dances, works with a team, develops music, and travels for bookings has several things to manage. The stage performance may last an hour or two, but preparing for it takes considerably longer. Choreography has to be worked out, music selected, timing considered, and everyone involved has to understand their role.
The dance team makes that preparation even more important. When several people are part of a performance, coordination matters. The result has to feel natural to the audience, even when a great deal of planning has gone into it.
Kosie is also part of the wider creative network represented by Melting C, which has included her among its artists while outlining plans to expand Eswatini talent's international reach. Her work across DJing and dance fits into a local entertainment industry where artists are increasingly finding ways to combine different skills and create more opportunities for themselves.
There is still plenty for audiences to discover about Gifted Kosie as her career develops. Her recorded catalogue can grow, her stage production can evolve and the experience of performing in different countries can continue to shape her sound. What matters is that she has a clear foundation to build on: a background in dance, an interest in music and a performance style that gives her more than one way to connect with an audience.
I will get to see that for myself this weekend. For now, my impression comes from the videos and performances I have watched online. They suggest an artist who takes the entertainment side of DJing seriously and understands that the audience is part of the experience.
The dance team adds another dimension, but the real test is how everything comes together when the music starts and the crowd responds. That is what I will be looking out for when I finally see her live.
For an artist called Gifted Kosie, the name invites an obvious play on words. But the more interesting question is what she does with the gifts she has.
Dance, music, choreography and a willingness to keep working at her craft have all become part of her story. If her recent performances and international bookings are anything to go by, she is still finding new ways to put those skills to use.
And that is what makes Gifted Kosie, the gift that keeps on giving, a fitting profile of an artist whose work continues to develop, both on the decks and beyond them.
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