Burnise Silvius was born in Pretoria and began dancing lessons at the age of four, studying at Pro Arte School, Pretoria and privately with Paula Olivier and Catherine Burnett.
She joined the State Theatre Ballet (then PACT Ballet) in 1994, winning the Madge Cade Award for the Most Promising Aspirant Dancer and graduated to the corps de ballet. She was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1999. As a professional dancer, she competed in the 1997 Sanlam International Competition in Pretoria and was placed second in the professional category and won the Best Solo Performance Award.
After the closure of The State Theatre Ballet in 2000 Burnise was invited to dance with the Hong Kong Ballet and joined the company as a senior soloist, participating in a European tour.
In 2001 Burnise returned to South African to join the newly formed South African Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer. Her roles for SABT have included the title roles in 'Giselle' and Veronica Paeper's 'Carmen', Odette/Odile in 'Swan Lake', Swanhilda in 'Coppélia', Juliet in 'Romeo and Juliet', the 'Flower Festival at Genzano' pas de deux and 'Napoli Act III' for the Royal Danish Ballet collaboration, the title role in 'Papillon', Ophelia in Kenneth Greve's 'Hamlet' and the title role in Cinderella'. Burnise was part of the group of SABT dancers who performed with the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen in September 2003.
In February 2004 Burnise was the recipient of the second Geoffrey Nieman and Brian van Rheede Award for her portrayal of 'Carmen'.
In early 2004, Burnise guested with the National Ballet of Canada as a Soloist and took leave of absence from SABT to guest with the company in the latter part of 2004 and into 2005. While in Canada she performed in Madame Butterfly, James Kudelka’s ‘The Nutcracker’, Magdalena Popa’s ‘La Sylphide’ and Suzanne Farrell’s ‘Serenade’.
In May 2005 she returned to South Africa to guest with SABT as Camille in 'La Traviata' (partnered by Guillaume Côté) and as Aurora in 'The Sleeping Beauty' (partnered by Michael Revie and Kimbrian Bergh). Burnise rejoined SABT full-time in September 2005 performing in ‘Rock-a-Tutu’ as Princess Rose, the title role in ‘Cinderella’ as well as the Gold Lady in ‘Who Cares?’. In 2006 she performed the lead roles in ’Valentine Enchantment’ at the State Theatre, Pretoria as well as ‘Triple Bill’ at the Johannesburg Civic Theatre an d the UJ Arts Academy theatre.
In 2006 Burnise toured with The SABT to Russia where her performance of the ‘Le Corsaire’ pas de deux was tremendously well received. Since then, she has appeared in the title roles of ballets such as ‘Coppélia’, ‘Who Cares?’, ‘Hamlet’, ‘The Nutcracker’ Romeo & Juliet’ and ‘Don Quixote’.
In 2007 she appeared in the title roles in ‘Romeo & Juliet’ opposite Andries Weidemann and ‘Ballet Highlights which included the roles of Kitri Les Sylphides’. She also performed in Soweto an Alexandra in Gregory Maqoma’s acclaimed ‘Neon Flight’. In 2008 she appeared as Aurora in Alexei Ilin’s ‘Sleeping Beauty’, ‘Autumn Enchantment’ with the Black Tie Ensemble, in Veronica Paeper’s ‘La Traviata’ and Ian von Memerty’s ‘Rock-a-Tutu’.
In 2009 she appeared as Swanhilda in ‘The Sandman’s Tale’, a DVD featuring the ballet Coppélia opposite Michael Revie as Franz. As well as in the lead roles of ‘Cinderella’, ‘Coppélia’ at the Promusica Theatre and ‘FNB’s Giselle’ to critical acclaim at the Joburg Theatre. Burnise also appeared in Janice Honeyman’s pantomime ‘Pinocchio’ alongside Fiona Ramsay and Tobie Cronje. She was invited to appear in Cape Town City Ballet’s production of ‘The Sleeping Princess’ where she performed the role of Aurora.
In August 2010, she appeared opposite Adam Thurlow in the title role of ‘Carmen-the Ballet’ and toured to Knysna and George in the Eastern Cape to raise funds for Hospice. She also appeared on the big screen at Cinema Nouveau countrywide in ‘Coppélia’.
2011 saw her perform in ‘The Nutracker’ during a sold-out performance at the Sand du Plessis Theatre in Bloemfontein. She received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Juliet opposite Kimbrian Bergh in ‘Romeo & Juliet’ in May and also appeared as Aurora, Enchanted Garden Fairy and Princess Florine in ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ at the South African State Theatre.
Shannon Glover
Shannon was born in Durban and began her dance training in Johannesburg at the age of four, being taught by Val Roulsten. She continued her training with Helen Dean and Yolandé Coetzee and trained in modern and contemporary with Chantal Pollachi. She was the winter of the RAD Central Gauteng Panel Advanced Foundation Bursary.
Shannon attended the National School of the Arts from 1999 to 2003 and also trained with Jacky Wells. She was awarded her RAD Solo Seal and was the winner of the South African RAD Adeline Geneè Silver Trophy. She subsequently represented South Africa at the International Ballet Competition in Birmingham, U.K.
In 2004 Shannon was accepted onto The South African Ballet Theatre’s Graduate Programme and during her Graduate year performed the solo in ‘Kopano’ and the role of Clara (including the Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy) in ‘The Nutcracker’. In 2005 she was accepted into SABT as a member of the corps de ballet. Her subsequent roles include Friends in Coppelia, Lead Lady and Ophelia’s Friend in Hamlet and Gregory Maqoma’s Neon Flight. 2007 saw Shannon cast as Juliet (her first Principal role) as well as the title role of Kitri in Don Quixote in the ‘Ballet Highlights’ season.
She made her debut as Odile in ‘FNB’s Swan Lake’ at The Johannesburg Civic Theatre in September to critical acclaim that same year. Shannon also performed in Gregory Maqoma’s ‘Neon Fight’ at the Arts Alive Festival and appeared in the broadcast of ‘Swan Lake’ on SABC 2.
In January 2008 she was promoted to Soloist and appeared in the seasons of ‘The Sleeping Beauty’, ‘La Traviata’ and ‘Rock-a-Tutu’.
Shannon made her debut in the title role of ‘Cinderella’ opposite Guy Wheatstone in March 2009 and then performed the Spring Fairy variation in The Cape Town City Ballet’s season of the same name. She also appeared in ‘Coppélia’ in June 2009 at the Promusica Theatre Roodepoort and toured to Knysna to raise funds for Hospice.
Shannon made her debut in the title role of ‘Giselle’ in September 2009 opposite Humberto Montero as Albrecht and appeared in Janice Honeyman’s pantomime ‘Pinocchio’.
She was promoted to Senior Soloist in May 2010. Soon thereafter, Shannon was cast in the title role of Veronica Paeper’s ‘Carmen-the Ballet’ opposite Michael Revie which she performed to critical acclaim. In September 2010, Shannon toured with SABT to the Eastern Cape to raise funds for Hospice.
On September 30th 2011, Shannon made her debut as Princess Aurora in ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ and was promoted to Principal dancer on stage in front of a packed-house. She also created a new work titled ‘Amakhono-khono’ which premiered during the ‘Balletomania!’ season. .
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