View source for S.H. Pellissier

[[S.H. Pellissier]] (1887-1978). Teacher, educational leader Afrikaans cultural leader.

== Biography ==
He is renowned for his leading involvement in the development of the Afrikaans [[Volkspele]] ("folk dance") movement and the arrangements for the 1938 centenary celebrations of the Great Trek. He studied at the University of **, he obtained a doctorate in **. Trained as a teacher, he became director of education on the Orange Free State in the 1920s. Having been impressed by Swedish folk dance during a visit in 1912, he began to translate the songs into Afrikaans (1914) and became an avid promotor of an own Afrikaner folk-dance tradition. Utilising his position as educator - and aided by miss A.M. Köhler and miss M.E.J. Coetzee , he became systematically involved in this project in the 1930s. By the 1940s they had created a [[Uniale Raad van Volkspele]] ( "Union-wide Council for Folk Dance") in association with the [[Reddingsdaadbond]], to organize, teach and promote Volkspele in the country and Pellissier was its chairman.

He was also Chairman of the [[Federasie van Afrikaanse Kultuurvereniginge]] ([[F.A.K.]] = "Federation of Afrikaans Cultural Organizations") between 19* and 19*. Was made their representative on the first board of the [[National Theatre Organisation]] in 1948.

== Sources ==
Biography written by [[P.J.Nienaber]], ''[[Tydskrif vir Geesteswetenskappe]]'', 29(1). 1989.

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