Rosas

It is with great sadness that we learn of the sudden passing of Dada Masilo, a celebrated South African choreographer and engaging dancer who left no one untouched. In recent years, she built an impressive body of work from her home base of Johannesburg. She toured the most important international stages and festivals and received numerous awards.

In her oeuvre, Masilo connected her African background and stories with classics from the Western repertoire, including Giselle, Swan Lake, and Hamlet, and infused them with new meaning. She was a courageous and fearless woman who used her position as an artist to draw attention to the inequality, power structures, and patriarchy in her country. She advocated for gender equality and women’s rights, and in so doing, connected her energetic dance with social themes. In the last days of her life, she was working on a new piece about family loss and mourning.

Dada Masilo died far too young, at the age of just 39. Her career was moving at lightning speed and came abruptly and tragically to an end. Masilo first came to the attention of the dance industry as an 11-year-old in 1996, when she was invited to dance for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. She was educated at the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein, matriculating in 2002. Hungry to learn and improve her skills, she attended various types of training in the US and Europe, including at P.A.R.T.S. We were honoured to have her as a member of Generation VII. After three years, she left the school to continue to pursue her dream in her native South Africa. In an interview with South African critic Mary Corrigal in 2016, she mentioned: “If I had stayed in Europe, I would never have made the kind of work I make because it is so safe there and everyone is calm. I want to make work with an edge.” (This interview was published in its entirety in the publication P.A.R.T.S. 20 Years, 50 Portraits).

Her work leaves an indelible mark on the dance field in South Africa and beyond. Her artistic influence will remain alive through the performances she created and the many children and young people she generously introduced to the art of dance that she mastered like no other. She will be greatly missed. Our thoughts are with her family, friends and loved ones.

"I remember Dada first and foremost as an exceptionally talented dancer who marvelled because of the surprising and singular artistic trajectory she achieved after school. She pioneered within the artistic context of South Africa and as a woman, which is surely unique and far from evident. I will not forget how her seemingly timid appearance transformed into an incredible force once she took the stage. Despite all her achievements, she still considered herself a dancer first and foremost because dancing was what she loved doing. Somehow I recognise myself in that: that unconditional passion for dance as the most beautiful language there is to bring people together and spread it across the world. Dance as a language that connects the past with the future by moving unconditionally in the now. Dance as a language that invites celebration, mourning and reflection." Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker