Dulcie Howes

Dulcie Howes (31 December 1908 – 19 March 1993) was a South African ballet dancer, teacher, choreographer, and company director. During her performing career, she was considered the prima ballerina assoluta of South African ballet. In 1934, she established the company that evolved into today's Cape Town City Ballet.

Early life and training

Dulcie Howes was born in Little Brak River, a seaside town at the mouth of the Little Brak River (Klein-Brakrivier, in Afrikaans), from which it takes its name. Located only a few miles north of Mossel Bay, a thriving harbor town established when Europeans first landed in southern Africa, Little Brak River was then a British colonial outpost, as the area was part of the Cape Colony until 1910. Howes was the daughter of Justice Reed Howes, who had immigrated to South Africa at the end of the Second Boer War (1899-1902), and Muriel Alice (Lind) Howe. He was headmaster of Boys High School in Oudtshoorn, the "ostrich capital of the world," in the western Cape, but after his marriage he moved to Cape Town, the legislative capital of the colony, where he practised as an advocate.

When Howes was a girl, her parents enrolled her in classes for "fancy dancing" with Miss Helen Webb. There, "dressed in a starched, white, broderie anglaise frock, with a blue satin sash round [her] very ample middle," she was taught bow to walk gracefully, how to shake hands, and how to curtsey to her elders and betters. Incidentally, she was also taught little dances for student recitals. She received more substantial dance training from Helen White, an assistant at Webb's studio who had studied abroad with the Italian maestro Enrico Cecchetti. By her, Howes was thoroughly schooled in the fundamentals of ballet technique. In 1922, at age fourteen, she became one of the first pupils of the Hershel Girls School, but in 1925, after seeing a performance by Anna Pavlova's company at the Old Opera House in Cape Town, she decided on ballet as her chosen career.

Encouraged by Webb and White, Howes traveled to London in her late teens to further her dance education. She studied the Cecchetti method of ballet training with Margaret Craske, mime technique with Tamara Karsavina, national and character dances with Friderica Derra de Morada, and Spanish dance with Elsa Brunelleschi, all the while missing no opportunity to learn about production of stage works. She may also have taken classes in ballroom dancing during her early twenties. In 1927,m she danced for a short while with the Anna Pavlova touring company, her first professional engagement, but in 1928, she returned to South Africa with a dream of establishing a major ballet company in her home country. Her vision and her determination would eventually have a profound effect on South African dance history.

Professional career

For a few years after her return to South Africa, Howes taught at private studios in Rondebosch, a suburb of Cape Town, and in Johannesburg, in the northern province of Transvaal. In 1934, a momentous event occurred that would change her life: Professor William Bell, dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Cape Town (UCT) invited her to join the university's staff and start a ballet school. She wasted no time in doing so. Her students at this school formed the nucleus of a performing group that evolved into the UCT Ballet Company. From the moment of formation Howes was adamant that the company would give opportunity to talent, regardless of race or color. From 1941 onward, the school included a three-year diploma course, expanded in 1998 to a degree program at university level. The company toured throughout South Africa, by shining rail and dusty road, to remote towns both large and small, and performed beyond the country's borders in Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia), South West Africa (now Namibia), and Mozambique. Howes was both principal dancer and chief choreographer of the company for many years, as well as administrator, ballet mistress, wardrobe supervisor, stage hand on occasion. By all accounts she was never more than a competent performer and, by her own admission, not a great choreographer. But she was able to inculcate a love of dance and theater in others through the sheer enthusiasm and zeal with which she approached her mission. Therein lay the permanent effect she had on the dance history of her country.

Howes was also modest about her abilities a a teacher of ballet technique, which she judged to be merely adequate. Her pupils begged to disagree. Among those who made names for themselves as dancers, choreographers, producers, and teachers in companies and schools overseas were David Poole, John Cranko, Alfred Rodrigues, Johaar Mosval, Petrus Bosman, and Desmond Doyle. Less well known, but significant figures nevertheless, were Pamela Chrimes, Jasmine Honoré, Richard Glasstone, Avril Bergen, and Dudley Tomlinson. From the profits generated by performances of the UCT Ballet, Howes established the Dulcie Howes Trust Fund in 1950, which offered bursaries for dancers to study abroad and provided funds to cover fees for guest artists to come to dance in South Africa.

In 1963, the South African government granted subsidies to support ballet companies in the four provinces that existed at the time: the Cape Province, Natal, Orange Free State, and Transvaal. These subsidies permitted the hiring of principal dancers and ballet masters in each of the four provincial companies. When the UCT Ballet became a full-time, professional company in 1964, it was renamed the Cape Performing Arts Board Ballet (CAPAB Ballet). Howes became the company's artistic director and set it on a strong course into the future. Since her retirement in 1969, the company has been directed by David Poole, Veronica Paeper, and Robin van Wyk. It is known today as the Cape Town City Ballet. Howes retired as principal of the UCT Ballet School in 1972, when she was again succeeded by David Poole. The school continues in operation to the present day as the UCT School of Dance.

Works choreographed

Copy to come

Honors and awards

She received many awards in her lifetime including: Cape Tercentenary Foundation Award in 1953, Cecchetti Gold Medal in 1969, the SA Academy for Arts and Sciences gold medal in 1970 and an Honorary Doctorate in Music by UCT in 1976.

Personal and later life

She married Guy Cronwright, Managing Director of the Cape Times in London in 1937 and had two daughters, Amelia and Victoria. Her daughter, Victoria Cawood, is currently the executive chairman of Cape Town City Ballet.

External links

• [1] The Dulcie Howes Papers at the UCT Library
• [2] Dulcie Howe at Answers.com