Dada during a rehearsal with members of the Joburg Ballet
Image: Lauge Sorensen
Internationally renowned dancer and choreographer, Dada Masilo, has passed away.
She was 39 and died following a short illness on Sunday.
Only weeks before her death, Masilo was acknowledged by the City of Joburg as one of 44 “artistic icons in the City of Gold” with a star embedded into the wall of Soweto Theatre.
The respected Soweto-born star received many local and global awards, among them an Italian lifetime achievement award for classic and contemporary dance in September 2024 at the Premio Positano Léonide Massine for the Art of Dance.
Masilo began her meteoric career at the Dance Factory in Newtown, Johannesburg in the 1990s.
Dada Masilo in Smoke and Mirrors and Deep Night
Image: John Hogg
Masilo was born in February 1985, and at the tender age of 11, grabbed the attention of the dance industry when she was invited to dance for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
She went on to matriculate at the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein in 2002 and a year later, trained at Jazzart Dance under the tutelage of Alfred Hinkel which honed her talents ahead of her training at the Belgium-based Performing Arts Research and Training Studios (P.A.R.T.S).
Masilo was recognised for her unique onstage presence and danced with various companies and in a solo capacity.
She was celebrated at the ‘Most Promising Female Dance in a Contemporary Style’ by the Gauteng Arts and Culture MEC Award judges in 2006.
At the tender age of 22, she received the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance — which boosted her career and personal confidence in her work that led her to take flight internationally.
Masilo was prolific in her work and bold in breaking rules.
In 2016 her ‘Swan Lake’ was nominated for a Bessie Award in New York; a year later, her ‘Giselle’ won ‘Best Performance’ by the Italian Danza&Danza Award and in 2018 she won the Netherlands’ Prince Claus 'Next Generation' Award 2018.
She was known to take great ballet classics of the ilk of ‘Carmen’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘The Rite of Spring’ and ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and tease them apart, bringing in African dance motifs and a universal and powerful understanding of their lead women.
Deeply respectful of European and contemporary music traditions, but unafraid to go bare on stage and voice her own opinions, she effectively changed the shape and appearance of contemporary dance in South Africa.
She also collaborated with industry titans including; William Kentridge, Ann Masina, Albert Silindokuhle Ibokwe Khoza, David April, PJ Sabbagha and Gregory Maqoma.
Dada Masilo died aged 39.
Image: Jean Michel Blasco
The Masilo family have asked for privacy and arrangements for a memorial service will be announced when arrangements have been made.
seanne.rall@iol.co.za
IOL
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