Soweto-born dancer and choreographer, Dada Masilo “tragically passed away on 29th of December 2024, following a brief illness, at the age of 39,” reads a statement released by the dancer’s management. “The Masilo family have requested privacy in honour of Dada’s memory at this tragic time. Arrangements for a memorial service will be announced when arrangements have been made,” the statement continues.

Masilo made a profound impact on the global dance world over a career spanning more than 20 years. The recipient of many local and global awards, including an Italian lifetime achievement award for classic and contemporary dance in September 2024 at the Premio Positano Léonide Massine for the Art of Dance, Masilo began her meteoric career at the Dance Factory in Newtown, Johannesburg in the 1990s.

Born on 21 February 1985, 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. She was educated at the National School of the Arts in Braamfontein, matriculating in 2002.

In 2003 she went on to train at Jazzart Dance Theatre under the tutelage of Alfred Hinkel in preparation for her training in performance at P.A.R.T.S. (Performing Arts Research and Training Studios) in Brussels, Belgium.

Dancing with various companies and in a solo capacity, Masilo was recognised for her unique presence onstage. In 2006 she was celebrated as the ‘Most Promising Female Dance in a Contemporary Style’ by the Gauteng Arts and Culture MEC Award judges, and in 2008, at just 22, she was the recipient of the Standard Bank Young Artist Award for Dance. The latter enabled her career, her personal confidence in her work and her audience awareness to take flight internationally. Masilo was an extraordinary dancer, who understood the value of proper balletic training.

She was prolific in her work and bold in breaking rules, especially by reinterpreting the European ballet classics, including Romeo and Juliet, Carmen, Swan Lake and Giselle, bringing in African dance motifs. For her latest piece, The Sacrifice (2021), she puts Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring through the prism of the rituals, rhythms and sounds of her Tswana heritage.

She consistently rejected the idea of being confined to any particular cultural or geographical “box,” valuing instead the ability to bridge stories across boundaries. By mastering the rules of classical ballet, she believed she was better positioned to break them, suggesting that true understanding offers more freedom and innovation within tradition. “I hate being put in a dance language box. I don’t want to have a signature. I do fusion work, and fusion is what it is. My work contains everything that I respect and trade in,” she once said in an interview. “I’m actually exhausted giving people what they want from me. I’m tired of being a product, yet I do work that means so much to me, and that aspect hasn’t really been recognized. I need to take some time out and think about what I really want to do, and not what people want me to do. By nature, I’m a gatherer. I want to gather people to me because I have a gift I want to share.”

In 2016 her Swan Lake 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.

During her brilliant career, she collaborated with the likes of William Kentridge, Ann Masina, Albert Silindokuhle Ibokwe Khoza, David April, PJ Sabbagha and Gregory Maqoma. Her work is distinguished by her fearlessness.

At the beginning of December 2024, she was acknowledged by the City of Joburg as one of 44 “artistic icons in the City of Gold” with a star embedded into the wall of Soweto Theatre.  It was the most significant recognition of her career in her homeland.

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

Source: David April