Mandela's Dancers

The role of dance and music in the struggle against South Africa's apartheid regime is well documented. This book explores a special chapter in the history of post-liberation South Africa. In 1993, Lady Anya Sainsbury, a former ballerina at the Royal Ballet in London, met Nelson Mandela at a party in South Africa. Out of this meeting came the dance scholarship program at the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance, which provided 22 South African dance students the opportunity to study in London from 1994 to 2005. Drawing on archival photographs and personal recollections, the author highlights the personal experiences of six of those dancers and Mandela's significance for contemporary dance.