Founder: Sylvia Glasser

Sylvia Magogo Glasser is the founder of Moving into Dance which she started as a non-racial Dance Company and training organisation in 1978 during the height of apartheid in her garage, and was Director until 2013. She pioneered and taught Afrofusion, Edudance, and Dance Anthropology. In 1992 she started the full-time MIDM Community Dance Teachers Training Course and Outreach into townships. She choreographed extensively and mentored and empowered hundreds of young performers, choreographers, teachers and administrators from disadvantaged backgrounds. Her awards include a Lifetime Achievement from ACT (2004); FNB Vita as “one of South Africa’s national cultural treasures, a remarkable social activist whose exceptional work, in specifically African dance, has changed lives, perceptions and the face of South African dance” (2000); a Knighthood in the Order of Oranje-Nassau by the King of the Netherlands for “her contribution to democracy during and after apartheid, especially her commitment to the training of young dancers of all races” (2015).

 

 

CEO/ Director of Education: Nadia Virasamy

Having matriculated from Ladysmith Secondary School in 1994, Bernadia Virasamy has a Masters Degree in Arts, Culture and Heritage Management from Wits University and Bachelor’s degree in Social Science with Honours from UKZN majoring in Sociology and Industrial Psychology. She began her career in academia at various universities including UKZN and Wits. In 2005 she began at Moving into Dance Mophatong as Director of Education for eight years and currently serves the position of CEO/Director of Education. She recently co-authored three Arts and Culture Textbooks commissioned by Cambridge University Press. She serves on the board of the Newtown Improvement District and Poetso Music Project; an NGO working with the rehabilitation of prisoners through music. She is currently among the top three finalists for the Business Women’s Association Awards in the category of Social Entrepreneur and among the top five finalists for the Standard Bank Rising Star Awards in the category of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure.

 

 

 

Artistic Director: Sunnyboy Mandla Motau

Hailing from Alexandra, Sunnyboy remains invested in the development of his home township through dance, and the belief that dance truly brings hope as he is proof of that fact.  Having joined MID in 2008 as a student, Sunnyboy is now a highly commissioned choreographer and sought after facilitator nationally and internationally.  He has won the ImpAct Award for Choreography in 2016 and was also named among the Mail and Guardians top 100 young people to watch.

 

MID Board

Hilton Lawler – Chairman & Marketing Portfolio

Christos Daskalakos – Artistic & Education Portfolio

Prof Coenraad Visser – Legal & Human Resources Portfolio

Premie Naik – Finance & Fundraising Portfolio

Azania Muendane – Marketing & PR Portfolio