By Amahle Shosha
When Debbie Turner speaks about ballet, her words are filled with deep affection. As the artistic director of Cape Ballet Africa, she sees dance not just as an art form but as a vital language, one she has dedicated her entire life to preserving.
Performing as a professional dancer and running her own dance school has proven her tireless commitment to ballet, which has defined her career for over 30 years.
“There is so much talent in this country,” Turner insists. Yet, despite this abundance, professional opportunities are scarce. In the mid-1990s, there were over 200 paid ballet positions in South Africa. Today, that number has shrunk to fewer than 70.
“Imagine if there were only 70 positions for engineers in South Africa,” she says. The analogy underlines the urgency she feels to change this reality.
Cape Ballet Africa is part of that change. Turner commissions new works from South African choreographers, licenses international classics, and stages premieres such as Allegro Brillante, which are performed for the first time in Africa at the NAF. For her, the company is about more than just performances; it is about keeping dancers in South Africa by giving them the artistic recognition they might otherwise only find abroad.
This commitment is also reflected in her approach to inclusivity and diversity. Turner sees classical ballet as a discipline for everyone, starting with encouraging children at a junior school level. Yet she’s clear-eyed about the economic barriers many face in pursuing dance professionally, and she calls on government and provincial support to help create sustainable careers for dancers at home.
Turner’s vision is perhaps best captured in her explanation of SALT, one of the works performed at the festival. “SALT preserves history,” she says. “It’s a preservative and a healer.” For Turner, dance is both: it honours tradition while healing and renewing it for the future.
She describes classical ballet technique as a language that dancers refine daily and that choreographers use to write new stories. “The tradition lies in the primary colours,” she says, “but the art is in the shades and the mixing.”
As Cape Ballet Africa grows, Turner hopes it will offer dancers the choice to stay in South Africa, build careers, and enrich local audiences rather than being lost to international stages. “Today is history created for tomorrow,” she reflects. It is a philosophy that guides her work: to preserve the best of the past while making space for new voices, new stories, and new generations of South African dancers to shine.
