For generations, ballet held a special place in gay culture. There was the drama, the glamour, the beautiful bodies, the costumes and music — and, perhaps most importantly, the chance to dress up and share an evening with friends in a space where queer people could feel at home.
Somewhere along the way, however, that love affair lost some of its intensity.
Dirk Badenhorst, Director of Mzansi Ballet and a veteran of the South African ballet world, wants to rekindle it here in Mzansi.
“I am currently on a big drive to bring the gay back to ballet, both on the stage and off the stage,” he tells MambaOnline.
It’s an irresistible rallying cry, but there is a serious question behind it: what place does ballet occupy in South Africa today? How does an art form often perceived as European, elitist and old-fashioned speak to younger, Black and queer audiences in a country with its own stories to tell?
Badenhorst believes part of the answer lies in The Gold Rhino of Mapungubwe, his ambitious homegrown production. First performed in 2023, it will return to the stage at the University of Pretoria’s Aula Theatre on 7 and 8 October.
And this is no modest night at the ballet. Almost 200 performers will be involved, including Mzansi Ballet dancers, international guest artists, 120 student choristers and the University of Pretoria Symphony Orchestra. Thirty of the choristers will also become part of the action on stage.
In other words, if you think ballet is just tutus, pointe shoes and Swan Lake, Badenhorst would very much like a word.
When Ballet Was a Gay Night Out
Badenhorst’s own relationship with ballet began when he was seven. He was captivated by “the beauty of ballet, the costumes, the music and the lyricism”, although his father strongly disapproved of his interest.
For several years, he stayed away. In hindsight, he believes having to fight for ballet may have made his connection to it even stronger.
That personal history unfolded alongside a much broader relationship between ballet and queer culture.
“Yes, it was indeed the case that ballet had a very strong gay following,” Badenhorst says, estimating that as much as a third of audiences at one point came from gay, lesbian and queer communities.
He remembers an era when going to the ballet was an occasion: friends dressed up, debated dancers and choreographers, immersed themselves in the history of productions and eagerly sought opportunities to meet the artists afterwards.
“It was also a safe space where the gay community could get together and enjoy an evening out with a whole bunch of friends,” he says.
For Badenhorst, that sense of occasion and community is something worth rediscovering — although simply expecting younger LGBTQ+ people to fall in love with ballet because previous generations did is not enough.
The art form also needs to listen.
“We need to start listening to the needs of younger audiences, and we need to ask them what it is that they would like to see portrayed,” he says.
Ballet in the Age of TikTok
Badenhorst isn’t suggesting throwing Swan Lake into the dustbin.
Traditional ballets, he argues, remain important measures of dancers’ technical ability. But ballet cannot pretend that audiences — or entertainment itself — haven’t changed.
TikTok, streaming and social media now compete with theatres for people’s attention. For a generation accustomed to consuming entertainment alone through a screen, he believes ballet can offer something surprisingly radical: being in a room with other human beings.
“The concept of being in a theatre and being able to breathe together and experience together what happens on stage is what I want young audiences to start re-experiencing,” he says.
And his pitch to a queer 22-year-old who has never bought a ballet ticket is refreshingly uncomplicated.
“You don’t have to get the story. You have to be moved by what you see on stage.”
Just as importantly, he wants younger queer audiences to see the theatre as somewhere they belong.
“You are welcome. You are safe. You are honoured. You are seen.” Bring the Gay Back to Ballet
Breaking Ballet’s Rules
Bringing the gay back to ballet is not only about getting queer bums onto theatre seats. It can also mean challenging expectations on stage.
Badenhorst has experimented with ballet’s conventions, including combining classical dance with pantsula, jazz, contemporary dance and hip hop, and casting male dancers in traditionally female roles.
One production featured Joshua Williams as Cinderella.
Badenhorst recalls receiving a phone call from a father who wanted his daughter to attend what he described as “the normal performance with the normal dancer”.
His response?
“Sir, all of our dancers are normal.”
There was a pause while, Badenhorst says, the man recalibrated his thinking. Eventually, he replied: “You are right.” He brought his daughter to the performance.
For Badenhorst, the exchange illustrated how the arts can shift perceptions without always needing to shout.
“It doesn’t always have to be aggressive activism. Sometimes ballet can achieve a lot simply by having a beautiful story told beautifully.”
But What Does Ballet Have to Do With Africa?
There is another elephant — or perhaps rhino — in the theatre.
Classical ballet originated in Europe. In a country grappling with questions of decolonisation, representation and access, why should South Africans care about it?
It’s a question Badenhorst has clearly heard many times.
He points out that football and rugby also have European origins, yet their relevance to African identity is rarely questioned in the same way.
His argument is that South Africans don’t need to abandon ballet; they can make it their own.
“See who the dancers are. See how the dancers of Mzansi Ballet represent our whole nation,” he says.
With The Gold Rhino of Mapungubwe, Badenhorst aims to use the vocabulary of classical ballet to tell a story rooted unmistakably in Africa.
Enter the Gold Rhino
Badenhorst says he spent more than 30 years searching for a South African story capable of becoming a major ballet.
He found it in Mapungubwe.
The ancient kingdom and its extraordinary gold artefacts offered him a story that could celebrate African achievement rather than frame the continent through the familiar lenses of colonialism, conflict or deprivation.
“It celebrates South African and African arts, culture and excellence,” he says.
He was particularly struck by the sophistication of the society that existed around a thousand years ago — its trade, engineering, mining, artistry and culture.
“We wanted to portray Africa of a thousand years ago as culturally developed,” Badenhorst explains. “We wanted to find a vehicle through which we could celebrate South African choreographers, South African music, South African design and South African ballet dancers.”
The University of Pretoria is an especially fitting setting for the latest staging because it is the custodian of the internationally recognised Mapungubwe Collection and Archive, including the iconic gold rhino itself.
An Afro-Ballet With Serious Scale
Calling The Gold Rhino of Mapungubwe a ballet almost undersells what Badenhorst and his collaborators are attempting.
The production combines classical ballet, choral performance, a live symphony orchestra, theatre, fashion and visual design. Badenhorst reaches for words such as “grandeur”, “superlative” and “massive” to describe its scale.
“There hasn’t been a production of this scale in many years, if not ever, in South Africa on a ballet stage,” he says.
The creative team includes lead choreographer Angela Revie, while celebrated South African designer David Tlale brings what Badenhorst calls “African chic” to the costumes.
Creating the world of Mapungubwe has involved more than simply adding African aesthetics to a European art form.
Badenhorst says the team researched what people ate, which instruments they played and even what kinds of wood would have been available at the time. He and Revie visited Mapungubwe and surrounding communities, observing rhythms, movement and dance as part of the creative process.
The result, he says, has “its roots in fact and research, but its storytelling exists within the fairy-tale world of classical ballet”.
Searching for a South African Masterpiece
Badenhorst is unapologetically ambitious about what he hopes The Gold Rhino can become.
Having travelled extensively through the international ballet world, he has seen countless interpretations of the classics.
“Swan Lake is Swan Lake is Swan Lake,” he says, whether it comes with a German, Russian or Chinese twist.
What he wanted instead was something South Africa could call its own.
“I really, really wanted to be able to create a South African Swan Lake, for lack of a better description: a South African masterpiece and a flagship production that celebrates what we have to offer in a language that is so universal and so understood by so many people.”
That doesn’t mean shutting out the rest of the world. The Pretoria production incorporates international dancers, while the work has already travelled around South Africa and to Switzerland. Badenhorst says the next international destination is Berlin, where it is scheduled to be performed at the Admiralspalast Theatre on 22 May.
So, Is It Time to Bring the Gay Back to Ballet?
Perhaps Badenhorst’s challenge is bigger than that.
If ballet wants younger queer South Africans — and younger South Africans more broadly — to walk through theatre doors, it cannot rely solely on nostalgia. It has to give them a reason to come.
That means making theatre feel welcoming rather than intimidating. It means recognising South African bodies and experiences on stage. It means creating new stories alongside preserving the classics. And it means understanding that ballet can be glamorous and rigorous, African and international, traditional and disruptive all at once.
The Gold Rhino of Mapungubwe is Badenhorst’s attempt to demonstrate just how expansive ballet can be.
For the ballet virgin still wondering whether any of this is really for them, Badenhorst makes one final pitch: don’t think of it only as ballet.
“It is a much bigger experience than just a ballet,” he says. “It is the absolute beauty of all of theatre’s tricks and treats brought together in one incredible production.”
And, yes, there are still dancers on pointe.
The Gold Rhino of Mapungubwe
The Gold Rhino of Mapungubwe will be presented by the University of Pretoria in collaboration with Mzansi Ballet at the Aula, University of Pretoria Hatfield Campus, on Wednesday 7 and Thursday 8 October 2026 at 19:00. Tickets cost R350 to R550 and can be bought online here.
Proceeds from ticket and merchandise sales will support UP’s Degrees Delivered campaign, which assists qualifying graduates unable to access their degree certificates because of historical student debt.
