Iain MacDonald
Artistic Director
Born in Johannesburg, Iain joined PACT Ballet in 1991 as a corps de ballet member directly after matriculating from the Johannesburg Art School. He danced the company for almost ten years during which time he was rapidly promoted to Principal roles and became well-known for his princely bearing and clean technique on stage
He has guested internationally in Copenhagen and toured Taiwan with the ballet "A Midsummer Nights Dream" as "Oberon". Iain has also been the winner of numerous awards such as the S.A. Adeline Geneè Silver Trophy, The Nederburg award and the FNB Vita Award for Ballet and has appeared in several music videos for Nataniël.
Following the closure of the State Theatre Iain choreographed, produced and directed 'The Nutcracker' together Karen Beukes and Angela Malan and which was performed at the SA State Theatre in December 2000.
Iain is one of the six founder members of The South African Ballet Theatre (SABT) and a Principal Dancer with the company.
He runs the popular 'Ballet for Adults' classes in the evenings and has choreographed various works for the annual Valentine / Autumn Enchantment and Arts Alive seasons.
Iain's roles for SABT have included Albrecht in 'Giselle', Don José in 'Carmen', Siegfried in 'Swan Lake', and the Snow Prince and the Fiancé / Prince in 'The Nutcracker', Dr Coppelius in 'Coppélia', the Winter pas de deux in Sean Bovim's 'I Will Say Goodbye Tomorrow' (for the Royal Danish Ballet 2002 collaboration), Esther Nasser's 'Pieces of You', Romeo and Tybalt in 'Romeo and Juliet', Poet in 'Les Sylphides' and Espada in 'Don Quixote'.
In February 2004 Iain underwent a hip-replacement operation and has successfully returned to full-time dancing. Whilst recovering from his surgery he took the roles of Von Rothbart in 'Swan Lake', Drosselmeyer in 'The Nutcracker' and Shaggy, the Wolf in 'Rock-a-Tutu'. He was also one of the six choreographers chosen by director Ian von Memerty to choreograph for the production.
In September 2006, Iain accepted the position of Director: Fundraising, Marketing & Development at SABT and in January 2009, he took over the reigns from his wife Karen and is currently Artistic Director.
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James AH Campbell
Interim Managing Director
James Campbell is currently Chief Executive Officer and President of Rockwell Diamonds Inc and Interim Managing Director at SABT. Prior to this he was Vice President - New Business for Lucara Diamond Corp, following Lucara’s acquisition of African Diamonds plc, where he was Managing Director for four years.
Preceding this, James was with De Beers for over twenty years, culminating in being General Manager responsible for advanced exploration and resource delivery in the Global Mining and Exploration group. During his career with De Beers he also led a number of diamond exploration and evaluation programmes and small-scale mine development as well as being involved in corporate and strategic management and being Nicky Oppenheimer's Personal Assistant.
James holds a degree in Mining & Exploration Geology from the Royal School of Mines (Imperial College, London University) and an MBA with distinction from Durham University. James is a Fellow of the Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Materials, Chartered Engineer (UK), Chartered Scientist (UK), a Professional Natural Scientist (RSA) and a member of the Institute of Directors of South Africa. He is also a director of Bugecosa and Stellar Diamonds plc.
As part of James’ social commitment to South Africa he serves as vice chairman of the SABT Board, chairman of The South African Ballet Theatre Trust (‘SABTT’) and acting chairman of Common Purpose SA.
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