A South African up and coming ballet star, Monwabisi Bangiwe (21), is being sponsored by Lady Sainsbury, wife of the president of the British supermarket chain Sainsburys. In the 1990s she met Nelson Mandela who asked her to do something for South African dance. Lady Sainsbury, the former Anya Linden, was a ballerina with the Royal Ballet. Through the family’s charitable Linbury Trust, Sainsbury has since 1994 sponsored about 20 young South African dancers to study at London’s Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. Several now have successful careers. Other projects the trust has supported include Cape Town’s Dance for All, which teaches children in Gugulethu, Nyanga, Athlone and Khayelitsha.
Monwabisi is studying at the Tshwane University of Technology. He had his first ballet class 3 years ago. His mother is a domestic worker and his father a retired railway worker from Kimberley. Monwabisi is also a member of the De Beers Superstone Field Band, excelling at marimba playing and dancing.
