Walk Don’t Walk

I had been preparing for the “Lions and Tigers, oh my” but the sight of so much security was an unsettling surprise. Around each “Compound”
(Home) were high walls with electric wire. Driving with the car top down was not recommended, rather the doors locked and the handbag down under your feet. A few dancers within the company had experienced being hijacked from their cars or at least bags stolen from smashed back windows.

However, like the Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime, Africa claims the name “Rainbow Nation” and despite its security dilemma it is a place of great weather, hospitable people and a deep love and hope for a safer, harmonious future.
One work I had always longed to perform was John Neumeier’s “Kameliendame” though due to other commitments it had never solidified. Having decided to “end” my career on the International stage I was thrilled to learn through a Stuttgart impresario, Jongki Goei, of the upcoming production of “La Traviata,” choreographed by Veronica Paeper and orchestrated by Allen Stephenson. Fate decreed that this transpired before my “use by date” and I had the great fortune in June, 2005, to be invited to dance with the South African Ballet Theatre ...