Sylvia Glasser (born 1940) is a South African dancer and choreographer known as a pioneer of

Afrofusion Afro fusion (also spelled afrofusion or afro-fusion) is a Dance style, dance and musical style that emerged between the 1970s and 2000s. In the same way as the dance style, the musical style invokes fusions of various regional and inter-cont ...

, a dance genre that combines African culture with Western

modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...

. She served as founding director of the influential dance company Moving into Dance from 1978 to 2013.

Early life and education

Sylvia Glasser was born into a white

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family in Pietersburg, now

Polokwane Polokwane (, meaning "Sanctuary" in Northern SothoPolokwane - The Heart of the Limpopo Provin ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, in 1940. She moved to England to study dance at the London College of Drama and Dance, where she graduated in 1963. She later obtained a bachelor's degree from the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), commonly known as Wits University or Wits, is a multi-campus Public university, public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg, South Africa. The universit ...

, 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 The University of Houston–Clear Lake (UHCL) is a public university in Pasadena, Texas, Pasadena and Houston in Texas, with branch campuses in Pearland, Texas, Pearland and Texas Medical Center. It is part of the University of Houston System, U ...

in the United States in 1997.

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. By the late 1970s, she had become a prominent figure in the

community of South Africa. 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." Notable artists who trained with Glasser include Vincent Mantsoe, Gregory Maqoma, Moeketsi Koena, and Portia Mashigo. Her choreography blends South African, African and Western traditions and techniques, which came to be known as

, a style that would come to be adopted by many dancers and musical artists.{{Cite book , last=Frederiksen , first=Lynn E. , url= , title=Dance Cultures Around the World , last2=Chang , first2=Shih-Ming Li , date=2024 , publisher=Human Kinetics , isbn=978-1-4925-7232-9 , language=en Her seminal work of choreography ''Tranceformations'', inspired by the art of the

San people The San peoples (also Saan), or Bushmen, are the members of any of the indigenous hunter-gatherer cultures of southern Africa, and the oldest surviving cultures of the region. They are thought to have diverged from other humans 100,000 to 200 ...

, was first staged in 1991. During the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

period, Glasser used dance to demonstrate opposition to the regime's oppression of black South African culture. From its founding, her company was the first in the country to racially integrate, which was still illegal at the time. She also emphasized the power of education through dance, which she dubbed "Educdance." In 1996, Glasser was given an FNB Vita Special Achievement Award for her work as a choreographer and dance educator. In 2000, she was named a National Living Human Treasure and Foremost Pioneer of South Africa. She was also given a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Tunkie Arts and Culture Trust in 2005. She holds both a Dutch knighthood (2014) and the

Order of Ikhamanga The Order of Ikhamanga is a South African civilian honour that recognises achievements in arts, culture, literature, music, journalism, and sports. Before the order was established on 30 November 2003, such achievements were recognised by the ...

Silver from South Africa (2016). Since her retirement in 2013, Glasser has published a book, ''Contemporary Dance and Southern African Rock Art: Tranceformations and Transformations''.

External links

Footage of ''Tranceformations'' (1991)

A sample of ''Contemporary Dance and Southern African Rock Art: Tranceformations and Transformations''

References

1940 births South African Jews People from Polokwane South African women choreographers South African female dancers Living people