Last week thursday (4th April 2013) a leader in South Africa's Dance INdustry passed away suddenly. She suffered from a stroke on wednesday evening and by Thursday we heard the news that she did not make it. Not only is it sad because she has a young adopted daughter and no husband to continue caring for the child, it is an enormous loss to dance, especially Spanish Dance in SA.
Carolyn was passionate about growing Spanish Dance and through her hard work and dedication had built a dance company and a tertiary training course. She raised funding to enable her to give scholarships to deserving dance trainees and many of her performers have gone on to teach and choreograph all over SA.
Dance is a hard career to follow in this country where sport is highly valued and the arts take a back seat to all the other issues we face. There is so little funding in the arts, few places where dancers can receive a well rounded training and very few funded courses of study - yet the majority of the talent comes from our disadvantaged communities. I mention this because people like Carolyn are so few and far between, who use their passion and drive to create opportunities for others. It makes the loss of this life even harder to swallow.
She will always be remembered as a wonderful friend, mother, teacher, choreographer and dance professional and I hope that those who studied under her will continue in some way to pave the way for others and to keep Spanish Dance alive.
Carolyn was passionate about growing Spanish Dance and through her hard work and dedication had built a dance company and a tertiary training course. She raised funding to enable her to give scholarships to deserving dance trainees and many of her performers have gone on to teach and choreograph all over SA.
Dance is a hard career to follow in this country where sport is highly valued and the arts take a back seat to all the other issues we face. There is so little funding in the arts, few places where dancers can receive a well rounded training and very few funded courses of study - yet the majority of the talent comes from our disadvantaged communities. I mention this because people like Carolyn are so few and far between, who use their passion and drive to create opportunities for others. It makes the loss of this life even harder to swallow.
She will always be remembered as a wonderful friend, mother, teacher, choreographer and dance professional and I hope that those who studied under her will continue in some way to pave the way for others and to keep Spanish Dance alive.