South Africa’s first Royal Ballet principal dancer, Dr Johaar Mosaval, passed away yesterday morning. He was 95 years old.
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Mosaval performed on international stages and taught and mentored the next generation of South African dancers. Born in Cape Town on 8 January 1928, he was the first black South African dancer to become a senior principal at the Royal Ballet in the UK.
The eldest of 10 children, Mosaval came from humble beginnings. His mother was a seamstress and his father hailed from a family of builders and ballroom dancers. He studied at Sadler’s Wells Theatre Ballet School in the late 1940s.
Throughout his career, he performed as a soloist across the globe and shared the stage with prima ballerinas Margot Fonteyn, Elaine Fifield and Doreen Wells. In 1951, he danced Jasper Sir Arthur Sullivan’s Pineapple Poll ballet, which premiered at Sadler’s Wells. He also performed Bootface in The Lady and the Fool and Puck in The Dream.
His final performance with the Royal Ballet was at the age of 48, when he played the Blue Bird in Sleeping Beauty. After his return to South Africa in 1976, he started teaching dance in Mitchells Plain and Paarl.
Among his many accolades is the Order of Ikhamanga in Gold from the 2019 National Orders, which honours South Africans and foreigners who excelled or played a key part in creating a free and peaceful democratic South Africa.
As per the Presidency, Mosaval was awarded for his ‘exceptional contribution to the performing arts, particularly ballet dancing.’
Earlier in March, the Artscape Theatre hosted ‘The Johaar Mosaval Story’, and described him as a ‘kind, beautiful soul’. About his death, it stated that ‘…his message of hope, self-belief, perseverance, hard work, defying the odds, believing in his abilities and sharing his talent, is the legacy he has left behind for future generations.’
The Daily Maverick reports that he was buried on Wednesday afternoon according to Islamic burial rites.
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Picture: Artscape / Facebook