Dulcie Howes

Dulcie Howes (1908 – 1993) was a South African ballet dancer, considered the prima ballerina assoluta, in her time, of South African ballet. She was born in Mossel Bay, near Cape Town.

Howes was the daughter of Justice Reed Howes, who immigrated to South Africa at the end of the South African War, and Muriel Alice Lind. He was the headmaster of Oudtshoorn Boys High School but after his marriage he moved to Cape Town where he practised as an advocate.

She was one of the first pupils of Herschel Girls School when it opened in 1922. She left South Africa to train in London, where she studied Cecchetti method with Margaret Craske, mime with Tamara Karsavina, and Spanish dancing with Elsa Brunelleschi; she joined Anna Pavlova's company, touring across Europe in 1927.[1]

She returned to South Africa in 1930 and opened a ballet school in Rondebosch to teach ballet, ballroom and Spanish dancing. The school was later moved to the College of Music which led to the founding of the UCT Ballet School in 1932. In the period 1932 to 1952, she also choreographed 30 original ballets including La Famille, Vlei Legend, Bach Suite and The Enchanted Well.

In 1935, she was appointed Director of the Little Theatre and established the UCT Ballet Company.

In 1950, the Dulcie Howes Ballet Trust Fund was established to fund dancers to study abroad and to sponsor guest artists to South Africa.

In 1965, the UCT Ballet Company became the CAPAB (Cape Performing Arts Board) Ballet Company (and has since been renamed the Cape Town City Ballet Company) but Dulcie Howes remained as artistic director until 1969 when she retired. In 1972, she also retired as principal of the UCT Ballet School.

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.

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.

Notes

  1. ↑ Women marching into the 21st century Human Sciences Research Council, p132. HSRC Press, 2000

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