The Programme Director,
Representatives of the Consulate of Colombia in Cape Town,
The CEO of Joburg Ballet: Mr Dirk Badenhorst,
The Artistic Director: Mr Iain MacDonald,
Director and co-founder of El Colegio del Cuerpo: Mr Alvaro Restrepo,
The Esteemed Patrons of the Company,
The Participants of Tonight’s Celebration,
Invited guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.
It gives me a great pleasure to stand before you for tonight’s performance which is organised in memory of Carolyn Holden, the founder, CEO, artistic director and academic head of La Rosa Spanish Dance Theatre who passed away after suffering from the effects of a cerebral aneurysm on Thursday, 4 April 2013.
Holden was trained in classical ballet by her mother Barbara and in Spanish dance by Mavis Becker and later by Clive Bain. She opened her Estudio de Baile Espanol in 1985 and founded La Rosa Spanish Dance Theatre in 1990. As she was dedicated to correcting past imbalances created by apartheid, her outreach programme touched the lives of many people from poor backgrounds.
As a result of her community based programmes, and her dedication to dance, Holden received several awards including four nominations for most-outstanding choreographer in contemporary style at the Vita Dance Indaba.
Ladies and gentlemen please join me in congratulating the Joburg Ballet Company for presenting here tonight, Celebration 5 and for its quest to better fulfil its vision of making dance an art form embracing the widest possible cross section of South African society, and to enhance standards, training, development, job creation, opportunities for the less privileged, sustainability, tourism, international goodwill and transformation.
Let us also express our gratitude for making Athlone a theatre home of choice after it was relocated from District Six due to apartheid forced removals. We applaud you. Now, as we bringing back the people of district Six to their heritage land and building houses for them, through human settlements, the portfolio that I am responsible for, this should also mean the heritage legacy and history of art must find its way alongside restitution.
Today marks a very important day in the South African calendar: Heritage Day. As we link this prestigious dance event here tonight with the Heritage Day, ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to borrow from a definition by our own South African National Heritage Council which is as follows:
“Heritage is what is preserved from the past as the living collective memory of a
people not only to inform the present about the past but to equip successive
generations to fashion their future.”
One of the living collective memories of the past that we have is the mobilisation of the International community and the showcasing of South Africa’s cultural heritage and its diversity by the late President of the ANC, Oliver Tambo in the 1970s. Through cultural performances, the leadership of the ANC took a decision to establish a permanent cultural centered music group to connect with the rest of the world. Amandla Cultural Ensemble travelled to more 60 countries, educating people from all over the world about conditions in South Africa.
The purpose of the group was then, to encourage the international community, through culture, to stand against the reign of an apartheid government in our motherland. Today South Africa is a free country; all thanks to the many partners and the many methods used, including different cultural genres.
I regard a gathering of this nature as one of those important sub-cultural events of our country which foster social cohesion, nation building, economic development and inclusive citizenship. This day has been set aside for all South Africans to embrace their different sub-cultures and feed into an inclusive mother culture for the Republic: Unity in Diversity.
Today’s festivity: the premiere of the brand new Cinderella event should in line with one of the objectives of Heritage Day, raise awareness and illustrate the meaningful importance of our liberation heritage to the youth and born free generations. It is not by accident that young people chose to rather be here tonight.
They could have chosen to be anywhere else. The cultural and historical significance of the building that we are in tonight resonates with our own sentiments about a proud culture. The Joseph Stone Theatre where we gather today comprises of various practice rooms, studios and offices and was inaugurated on 21 November 1969.
This building was named after its benefiter who donated R100 000 towards the building of the theatre. Before moving to Athlone, the EOAN group was founded by Helen Southern-Holt in District Six in 1933. It functioned as a cultural and welfare organization. The EOAN derives from the Greek word ‘Eos’ which means ‘dawn’, referring to the enlightenment it
strove to bring to individuals.
As the youth of our country continue to celebrate the freedom that the sons and daughters of this country sacrificed their lives for, they should equally emulate the actions of the heroes and heroines of the struggle against apartheid by using culture as a tool to pursue social cohesion in our communities.
Today’s youth is not expected to fight apartheid anymore, but there are immediate social ills facing the youth of today with the urgent need to mobilize both local and international communities against these social ills.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is of importance that all young people that are present here should take tonight’s display of performance as the start of lifetime alternative. I invite those who have not yet made up their minds to take this universal language and culture as their opportune moment to connect with the international community.
In the same spirit of international connectivity I have previously been invited to Columbia, as a member of the ANC and with regards to my role as the trade unionist during the liberation struggle. I was requested to share my experience of how we managed the highly militarised country leading to the disarmament of UMkhonto weSizwe, the then ANC military wing.
Bearing in mind the various challenges that our youth is confronted with in our time like substance and drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, HIV/AIDS, gangsterism, etc. it is indeed activities of this nature that can play a vital role in minimizing such challenges. The more we keep our youth busy with healthier lifestyle options like ballet dance, the more we intensify our efforts in fighting against the daunting challenges facing them.
To all participants of tonight’s event, you will appreciate that ballet requires years of training to learn and master, and much practice to retain proficiency. Even though we can’t all be announced as winners, by virtue of your participation, you are all winners. Let the fun begin and best of luck to you all.
I thank you!
