Founded by Ms. Bongiwe M. Sithole, daughter of Dr. Elkin T. Sithole, professor of Anthropology/Ethnomusicology at Northeastern Illinois University. She shared her father's interest in Anthropology and the arts as well as an appreciation of South Africa's cultures particularly her own Zulu culture, even though they were now living in the United States. Bongiwe started performing dance in high schoo
l and joined The Chicago Youth Repertory Theatre Company where she broke out of her shyness and really developed as a dancer and performer. Bongi studied modern, contemporary, jazz, Dunham techniques and West African dance styles in Chicago and graduated from Columbia College in the Arts. She also studied at Prairie View A& M University in Prairie View, Texas where she co-founded the CLASSIC DANCE ENSEMBLE in 1989 which has recently celebrated over 25 successful years on campus. She often grew frustrated growing up in America where the only forms of "African dance" expressed or taught were West African (Senegal/Mali) and these were promoted as representing ALL African dance. Her love of South African music & dance styles was ongoing. This drove her into a lifelong study of Zulu cultural song and dance. She greatly enjoyed supporting SA artists whenever they came to Chicago. In an effort to expose Chicago and the United States to the cultural arts of South Africa. Sithole attempted to recruit various South African groups including AmaZulu High School dancers of Madadeni, Newcastle to come perform in the United States as part of Dance Africa 1996 but that attempt was unsuccessful. By 2002 the time was right and SACAO was born, with the motivation to teach the children of South Africans living in the Chicago area the culture via the art of song, dance, music, language, etc and to instill a cultural pride in their heritage. By 2005 the org went into a long hiatus until recently reemerging in a new format and facing a new chapter. This time hoping to build a global network of SA cultural artists and supporters, and serve as a resource center.
