Like most who surf the web, I’m drawn to listicles. Particularly when they highlight interesting people – as per the annual Foreign Policy magazine’s Global Thinkers, which celebrates breakthroughs in nine categories.
Among “the artists” acknowledged in FP’s 2016 group is a South African ballerina and choreographer whose name was new to me – but not to cultures New Yorkers. The magazine says “Swan Lake is arguably the world’s most famous ballet, but Dada Masilo has made it her own”.
The 30 year old Johannesburger applied a South African setting to Tchaikovsky’s classic ballet. Her show graduated from SA to a European tour, a stint on London’s West End and, in February, to New York’s 472 seater Joyce Theatre. It earned Masilo a nomination for Outstanding Production in the 2016 Bessies, the premier New York Dance and Performance Awards.
Another South African talent who continues to shine just as brightly is Otile Mabuse, a 26 year old professional ballroom dancer from Pretoria. Oti and her partner, actor Danny Mac, are among three couples in Saturday’s 2016 Final of the UK’s nation-stopping Strictly Come Dancing competition. Have a feeling there will be lot of cheering and some breath-holding in South West London, otherwise known as Little South Africa.
