“…I think all dancers have to sacrifice their lives; they don’t get much money, you have to love what you do – to live it…”
Lynton knew from his earliest years he wanted to be on stage when his mother stitched costumes for him to perform to the family. Quickly identifying that he could express himself better in movement than in speech, his mother sent him to dance classes. Starting with tap.
Spanish dance was sweeping South Africa with the international recognition of Mercedes Molina and her partner Enrique Segovia. It was here that he would find a niche for his dreams. He was immediately successful. At the age of 19 he was flown to New Zealand to join a Spanish dance company on a tour of the East. It was the start of an extraordinary life-long career taking him across the world. Not only as a Spanish dancer but as a choreographer as well.
With his energetic enthusiasm to learn more, he signed on for classes at the schools of Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey, Molly Molloy. Back home he started his own academy teaching all these methods – contemporary, modern, jazz.
And then the age of television arrived. Lynton was shot like a magical star into the world he had been preparing for. He now had his biggest audience. It was his talent we saw in all those SABC variety shows; they were rich, expensive, and matched the best in the world.
Over 80, and now retired, he looks back at a life well lived, knowing he has given generously, left his mark, to the dance industry.