Johaar Mosaval

Johaar Mosaval (1928 -) [1]. Ballet dancer from Cape Town.

Biography

Johaar Mosaval was born in District Six in Cape Town on 8 January 1928 and was one of nine children in his family. Born into a religious community that rejected ballet, and far too short to be a principal dancer, Mosaval nonetheless became the first Muslim principal dancer of colour to join The Royal Ballet company in England.

Training

Dulcie Howes, a prominent figure in the South African dance arena, saw him in a primary school pantomime and organised for him to attend the UCT Ballet School from 1947 to 1949. This was unheard of at that time and came under much criticism and opposition from white people. Johaar was also under pressure from his conservative Muslim family because dance was considered un-Islamic. It was also not an easy scenario for Mosaval to be the only person of colour in the institution and in class.

Regardless of Howes’s efforts, Apartheid prevented Mosaval from pursuing a dance career in his homeland as theatres and stages were for ‘whites only’. But he got a break in 1950 when he caught the attention of two visiting celebrity ballet dancers – Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin. They organised a scholarship for Mosaval to attend the famous Sadler’s Wells Ballet School in London. Within a year he progressed to join the Royal Ballet School and within another year he graduated into the Royal Ballet Company.

Career

In 1956 Mosaval was promoted to soloist and performed his first solo for the coronation of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II at Covent Garden. By 1960 Mosaval achieved the position of principal dancer and by 1963 he was ranked as principal alongside legendary dancers like Dame Margot Fonteyn, Rudolf Nureyev, Dame Beryl Grey, Nadia Nerina and Svetlana Beriosova. In 1965 he was a senior principal dancer, the first person of colour to hold this position, touring the world with the Royal Ballet, partnering with the most famous of ballerinas such as Margot Fonteyn, Svetlana Beriosova, Lynn Seymour, Merle Park, and Nadia Nerina who was a South African.

In 1975 Mosaval’s life was transitioning into teaching as he retired from performing and became the first dancer to complete the Professional Dancer’s Teaching Diploma from the Royal Opera House.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

Performed in the pantomime Dick Whittington in the Cape Town City Hall in 1946.

In 1960, returned to South Africa to dance in the new ballet, The Pink Lemonade.

In 1962, he danced the principal role in the ballet The Square by Stanley Glasser. It was originally performed in 1962 by the Eoan Group, and was the first full length indigenous jazz ballet by a local composer for a South African ballet group.

Johaar Mosaval returned home to Cape Town in 1976 with wonderful memories. He made history in 1976 by being the first black dancer to perform at the Nico Malan Theatre, when he did a guest appearance for CAPAB Ballet in the title role of Petrouchka[2].

Mosaval opened his own ballet school in 1977 and was employed as the first person of colour to be an Inspector of Ballet under the old Government. He quickly resigned when he found that he had to work within only his own ‘designated race silo’. As a result of his act of defiance his ballet school was shut down by the apartheid regime because it practiced no distinction between races.

Awards, etc.

Dancer’s Teaching Diploma at the Royal Opera House (1975)

Winston Churchill Award (1975)

Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal for his services to ballet in the United Kingdom (1977)

Western Cape Arts, Culture, and Heritage Award in (1999)

Western Cape Province – Premier’s Commendation Certificate (2003)

Cape Tercentenary Foundation – Molteno Gold Medal in (2005)

City of Cape Town – Civic Honours Award

The Arts and Culture Trust – Lifetime Achievement award for Dance (2016)

From District Six to Covent Garden, the life and achievements of ballet legend Johaar Mosaval were celebrated at the Suidoosterfees in Cape Town in honour of his 90th birthday which was celebrated in January 2018.

Sources

Report by Steyn du Toit, Business Day, 4 May 2018.

https://www.capetownmuseum.org.za/they-built-this-city/johaar-mosaval

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