Ballet dancers from the Americas will be in South Africa from 20 to 24 June to raise awareness about the poaching of Africa’s rhinos.
The Teatro at Montecasino will be their home from 20 to 22 June, before the dancers head to Legend Golf and Safari Resort in Limpopo to present Stars of American Ballet in the Bush. Proceeds from the Limpopo shows on 23 and 24 June will be donated to rhino orphan conservation.
It will be the third visit of one of the ballet stars, American Michaela DePrince and she has agreed to be patron of the rhino orphan project.
DePrince brings her own African orphan story to the role of patron, as her family was caught in the horrors of Sierra Leone’s civil war. As a toddler she saw her parents killed.
Further alienated from her community by a skin disorder, her future was bleak until two events changed her life. She found a tattered picture of a ballerina in a magazine and unknown as ballet was to her, she became obsessed with the idea of becoming the ballerina in the photograph.
At age four she was adopted by an American family and started ballet lessons. Now at 19, after winning prestigious accolades, she is part of the Dutch National Ballet.
The Stars of American Ballet programme will include highlights from major classics such as Le Corsaire, Don Quixote and Diana and Actaeon. Adding a spectacular stamp of American ballet distinction will be works by legendary choreographer George Balanchine, including his Broadway inspired classic, Who Cares Suite.
Directed by New York City Ballet principal, Joaquin de Luz, the Stars of American Ballet visit marks the first time in more than 30 years that a team of American ballet stars bring their unique brand of classical ballet brilliance to South Africa.
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