This presentation will be in the form of a dialogue between Sylvia ‘Magogo’ Glasser and Dr Sarahleigh Castelyn (University of East London, UK). As a dance performer, teacher, choreographer, mentor, scholar and innovator for over 60 years, much of Glasser’s work has been a blending or combination of Western and African philosophy, dance forms, rituals, and music. They will discuss the creating of the iconic Tranceformations with Moving into Dance, in terms of cultural appropriation, sharing dance languages – almost over 30 years ago, and review these issues in further depth, almost 40 years later reflecting on when Glasser was writing her book: Contemporary Dance and Southern African Rock Art: Tranceformations and Transformations (2019).
Sylvia ‘Magogo’ Glasser is a cultural activist, teacher, choreographer, mentor, anthropologist, and writer, who founded Moving into Dance in 1978 as a nonracial dance company and training organisation, and was director until 2013. She has an MA from the University of Houston, and pioneered Afrofusion from 1977, plus Edudance methodology from 1989. In 2019 with NAC and The Ar(t)chive support, Glasser published a book, republished in 2022 by Cambridge Scholars Publishing titled Contemporary Dance and Southern African Rock Art. Awards include: David Webster award for social anthropology (Wits) 1990; FNB Vita Special Award (2001) “whose work has changed the face of South African dance”. Lifetime Achievement Award Arts and Culture Trust (2004); Knight in the Order Orange-Nassau of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (2014); Order of lkhamamga (Silver 2016); Lifetime Achievement from Natal Playhouse (2023).