Dancer Dada Masilo to be laid to rest in a private funeral on Saturday

Late dancer Dada Masilo will be laid to rest in a private funeral and burial on Saturday, her family has confirmed.

“The family has requested no media at the funeral and burial as they would like the privacy,” averred the brief statement from the Masilos.

The choreographer’s passing was confirmed by her family on Sunday evening after a short illness; she was 39 years old.

She is survived by her mother, sister and two nieces.

According to the Masilo family, a memorial service is being arranged for the third week of January and details will be shared once the final arrangements have been made.

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Tremendous loss for the dance industry

Masilo was a globally renowned dancer and choreographer, whose career was the envy of many worldwide.

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.

Speaking to The Citizen, founder of Mzansi Ballet Dirk Badenhorst said Masilo’s passing is a tremendous loss for the dance community.

“It’s a tremendous loss for ballet, for dance, for South Africa, on so many levels. Artistically, from a human perspective,” said Badenhorst.

Badenhorst, who is also the founder of the South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) had worked with Masilo in the past.

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‘A force in the world of dance’

“I worked with her for the first time in 2001 as a young ballerina, she took part in our Nutcracker production in what is the precursor to what is now the Joburg ballet,” he said.

Badenhorst said after they worked together he witnessed Masilo explode into a force in the world of dance.

“[She] was creating some of the world’s most spectacular ballets. Being recognised both outside and inside of South Africa for the incredible work that she has done.”

In 2006 Masilo was celebrated as the ‘Most Promising Female Dance in a Contemporary Style’ by the Gauteng Arts and Culture MEC Award judges, and at the age of 22, she received the prestigious Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance.

In 2016 her Swan Lake piece 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.

“I think the loss of her creative mind and spirit will be felt in the future even more than it felt right now because she was loaded with so much talent and so many stories and creative spirit, that it is indeed a sad loss for us all,” averred Badenhorst.

At the time of her passing Masilo was working on a new autobiographical solo piece about the loss of loved ones.

As recent as early December Masilo was bestowed with a star on the Soweto Theatre wall alongside other respected South African artists.

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“Thank you Soweto Theatre for honouring and acknowledging me. It means so much coming from home,” she averred in her speech on social media.

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