Traditional dance and music pioneer Grace Mpori Senne was a star of the local arts scene.
"Ma" Grace, died aged 67 at Johannesburg Hospital on Wednesday after being hospitalised for diabetes.
Born in Sophiatown, Senne will be remembered as a committed actor, writer, director, dancer, researcher, percussionist, and master teacher specialising in Southern African dance forms, including gumboot.
Since the 1960s, Senne, then living in Soweto, was an active member of the African National Congress.
In the 1970s Mosako, her traditional African dance group, toured Israel and neighbouring countries such as Mozambique.
In 1993, with her daughter Sandra, she formed African Maroon, an all-women jazz band which is due to tour to the United States in June.
In 2000 Senne was profiled as an artist in Women Marching into the 21st Century, a Human Sciences Research Council/ Department of Arts, Culture Science and Technology publication honouring South African women in the arts and sciences.
Moving Into Dance Mophatong (MIDP) founder Sylvia Glasser described Senne as "a living storehouse of knowledge of traditional African dance.
"She was also very humble and generous with what she knew. There's such a sense of frustration that we have lost a human resource, someone who is totally irreplaceable."
At MIDP, Senne's students at the Community Dance Teachers Training Course (CDTTC) included Vincent Sekwati Mantsoe and Gregory Vuyani Maqoma, who both now have international careers.
CDTTC graduate and educationist Jan Moleya remembers his teacher Senne for her tenacity. "She was an inspiration to younger woman dancers because she never quit."