Sylvia Glasser
South African dancer and choreographer (born 1940)
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Sylvia Glasser (born 1940) is a South African dancer and choreographer known as a pioneer of Afrofusion, a dance genre that combines African culture with Western modern dance. She served as founding director of the influential dance company Moving into Dance from 1978 to 2013.
Sylvia Glasser | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1940 (age 85–86) |
| Education | University of the Witwatersrand, bachelor's degree, 1973 University of Houston–Clear Lake, master's degree in dance, 1997 |
| Occupations | Dancer and choreographer |
| Known for | Pioneering the dance genre Afrofusion |
| Awards | Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tunkie Arts and Culture Trust (2005) |
Early life and education
Sylvia Glasser was born into a white Jewish family in Pietersburg, now Polokwane, South Africa, in 1940.[1][2][3][4][5]
She moved to England to study dance at the London College of Drama and Dance, where she graduated in 1963.[2] She later obtained a bachelor's degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, in 1973; pursued further studies in anthropology at Witwatersrand in the late 1980s; and graduated with a master's in dance from University of Houston–Clear Lake in the United States in 1997.[2][4][6]
Career
Returning to South Africa from the U.K., Glasser established herself in the local dance scene with the Experimental Dance Theatre, an annual platform she founded in 1967.[4] By the late 1970s, she had become a prominent figure in the modern dance community of South Africa.[1] Beginning in 1978, she was the founder and longtime director of the influential company Moving into Dance, whose dancers affectionately call her Magogo, meaning "mother" or "grandmother."[1][2][5][7] Notable artists who trained with Glasser include Vincent Mantsoe, Gregory Maqoma, Moeketsi Koena, and Portia Mashigo.[5][8]
Her choreography blends South African, African and Western traditions and techniques, which came to be known as Afrofusion, a style that would come to be adopted by many dancers and musical artists.[1][7][9][10] Her seminal work of choreography Tranceformations, inspired by the art of the San people, was first staged in 1991.[2][3][4]
During the apartheid period, Glasser used dance to demonstrate opposition to the regime's oppression of black South African culture.[1] From its founding, her company was the first in the country to racially integrate, which was still illegal at the time.[2][3][5] She also emphasized the power of education through dance, which she dubbed "Educdance."[4]
In 1996, Glasser was given an FNB Vita Special Achievement Award for her work as a choreographer and dance educator.[1] In 2000, she was named a National Living Human Treasure and Foremost Pioneer of South Africa.[1] She was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tunkie Arts and Culture Trust in 2005.[1] She holds both a Dutch knighthood (2014) and the Order of Ikhamanga Silver from South Africa (2016).[2][3]
Since her retirement in 2013, Glasser has published a book, Contemporary Dance and Southern African Rock Art: Tranceformations and Transformations.[3][4]