Dancing in Uganda
Despina graduated from Makerere University and had a graduation party on Pascha evening. Somehow— it can't really have been the two beers I'd had, that's not enough even to loosen my tongue— but lots of people were dancing in the courtyard of our "Spiritual Center" (conference building) so maybe I was just inspired by the occasion— anyway I grabbed Marina the cleaning lady (whose tots always sit in my chairs with such wide-eyed wonder while she cleans and I work at my computer), and then Kemirembe Joy, the diocesan education secretary— and started dancing. Then a couple of others joined us, and then about 5 or 6 kids, like from about age 5 to maybe 10. Well, I was having a good time, and so were they. And then a bunch of high school boys came over and begged me to come and dance with them. So I did, and of course the kids followed, so there were about 10 of us, me and the boys and the little kids. Very energetic!
I have to admit I was caught just a little off guard when the boys asked me to dance with them. I don't think that would happen in America... here, I'm not quite sure the girls would ask. Perhaps they would&mdash but in any case, there really doesn't seem to be anything 'romantic' about dancing here, it doesn't have anything to do with 'age brackets'; and in particular, there seems to be no concept of 'couples'. That's not what dancing's for!— and in fact, boys tend to dance with boys and girls with girls, in groups, to show friendship, to express themselves, to move their bodies, to have fun. The little kids were totally into it, and very good, by the way— playing off my moves even better than the big kids. A lot of laughing and delight: what a great way to end Pascha!
Despite the vast loss of culture and tradition here due to colonialism (including colonial religiousness) and more recently to Aids, which has practically wiped out the older generation, there seem to be fairly strong traditions of villlage dance here, and people do them at big functions like Music, Drama, and Dance ("MDD") Day at the end of the school year (coming soon!), or when the bishop comes to town. But I don't know when they ever practice these steps because that's the only time I ever see them, and what I'm aware of otherwise is all just disco dancing. Obviously, there's a lot about life in Uganda that I don't know.
I almost never even hear the words to music, even when I'm just sitting in a chair and listening to it, much less when I'm "wearing out the grass", as Jackie A. put it. But Sharon tells me the DJ was spinning a strange mix— a slice of gospel rock followed by some reggae, and then some hip-hop thing with lyrics of, um, well, pretty questionable taste. Well, about that, as I say, I have trouble hearing the words of songs, and wasn't paying particular attention anyway, so I didn't really notice this myself, but to whatever extent it was true— and she said she's noticed this in the past— it's another indication of just how much teaching of the Orthodox way there remains to be done here. Unimaginable! But the music that night was for dancing, not for listening, and I'm not even sure the kids really would have understood the words very well in any case, or much cared— so occasional lyrics aside, I thought this party was pretty near perfect: everyone was there, from grandparents to babies, the music was fun to move to and not too loud, the food was plentiful and good, there was enough beer but not too much, and the plug was pulled by 11:45. In other words, the party wasn't conducted at 100 decibels until 3:00 am, like the one down the street a couple weeks ago (I'm not exaggerating about that!)
I've always felt that's how our social life ought to be (and used to be, a hundred years ago): everyone was involved together. It wasn't so age-segregated, as we have in America today.
The next day Jacobo Kabazinga, one of the senior members of the staff here, thanked me for dancing: "We know you're alive," he said. I suspect the "muzungu" who can dance was also the talk of Chwa II Memorial High School at least part that next morning too. Certainly I'll remember the evening myself. And it was showing those youngsters how it's done!
I have to admit I was caught just a little off guard when the boys asked me to dance with them. I don't think that would happen in America... here, I'm not quite sure the girls would ask. Perhaps they would&mdash but in any case, there really doesn't seem to be anything 'romantic' about dancing here, it doesn't have anything to do with 'age brackets'; and in particular, there seems to be no concept of 'couples'. That's not what dancing's for!— and in fact, boys tend to dance with boys and girls with girls, in groups, to show friendship, to express themselves, to move their bodies, to have fun. The little kids were totally into it, and very good, by the way— playing off my moves even better than the big kids. A lot of laughing and delight: what a great way to end Pascha!
Despite the vast loss of culture and tradition here due to colonialism (including colonial religiousness) and more recently to Aids, which has practically wiped out the older generation, there seem to be fairly strong traditions of villlage dance here, and people do them at big functions like Music, Drama, and Dance ("MDD") Day at the end of the school year (coming soon!), or when the bishop comes to town. But I don't know when they ever practice these steps because that's the only time I ever see them, and what I'm aware of otherwise is all just disco dancing. Obviously, there's a lot about life in Uganda that I don't know.
I almost never even hear the words to music, even when I'm just sitting in a chair and listening to it, much less when I'm "wearing out the grass", as Jackie A. put it. But Sharon tells me the DJ was spinning a strange mix— a slice of gospel rock followed by some reggae, and then some hip-hop thing with lyrics of, um, well, pretty questionable taste. Well, about that, as I say, I have trouble hearing the words of songs, and wasn't paying particular attention anyway, so I didn't really notice this myself, but to whatever extent it was true— and she said she's noticed this in the past— it's another indication of just how much teaching of the Orthodox way there remains to be done here. Unimaginable! But the music that night was for dancing, not for listening, and I'm not even sure the kids really would have understood the words very well in any case, or much cared— so occasional lyrics aside, I thought this party was pretty near perfect: everyone was there, from grandparents to babies, the music was fun to move to and not too loud, the food was plentiful and good, there was enough beer but not too much, and the plug was pulled by 11:45. In other words, the party wasn't conducted at 100 decibels until 3:00 am, like the one down the street a couple weeks ago (I'm not exaggerating about that!)
I've always felt that's how our social life ought to be (and used to be, a hundred years ago): everyone was involved together. It wasn't so age-segregated, as we have in America today.
The next day Jacobo Kabazinga, one of the senior members of the staff here, thanked me for dancing: "We know you're alive," he said. I suspect the "muzungu" who can dance was also the talk of Chwa II Memorial High School at least part that next morning too. Certainly I'll remember the evening myself. And it was showing those youngsters how it's done!
posted by john at
04:21
