Polka reaches mainstream

Thalefang Charles | Friday March 6, 2015 18:00

“We have been dancing Polka for all the years,” says Margaret Bock from Streizendam, near Bokspits on the southwestern tip of Botswana in the Kgalagadi District.

Bock attests: “This is our culture. Our traditional dance. Every fun occasion; weddings, parties and family get-togethers we dance polka.  The elders and children dance to it.”

Polka was originally called Boerewalf. It is said that the dance came to Botswana with the white farmers and Dutch people that settled in Botswana. It is the staple dance in the south western part of Botswana, northern part of South Africa and south east Namibia.

For years, Batswana from elsewhere did not know this traditional dance because it was confined to the areas of Gantsi and Kgalagadi district, especially in the southwestern part of Botswana. The validation of polka dance came through president Ian Khama.

Thanks to Khama, polka has now reached mainstream. It is now recognised among Botswana’s traditional dances and last week it held its very mainstream festival at Tsabong Ecotourism Camel Park.

It is Khama’s initiative of President’s Day Competitions that gave polka a stage to reach the rest of Botswana.  The competitions were very instrumental in the promotion of polka as a traditional dance.  But the bigger promotion came personally from the president because Khama loves polka.

The biggest advertisement for polka was when the President was dancing to it, swinging on the dusty dance floor, initially alone, but later danced with a fair skinned woman. That heart-warming scene, which appeared in the national broadcaster, Btv, with Khama at his most unguarded moment helped to promote polka dance. It was therefore not surprising that Khama found time in his busy schedule to grace the inaugural Kalahari Polka Festival at Tsabong last weekend.

An initiative by Ngwao Loshalaba Cultural Group, the first Kalahari Polka Festival brought 11 polka troupes from across Kgalagadi and Gantsi districts.  The groups included the famous Gareng ga Dithota from Khawa, Le Ikadile from Khuis, 7 de Laan from Tsabong, Kalahari Dancers from Streizedum, Lang Pad Huis Toe from Gantsi, Speel Nog from Bokspits, Genit Met Ons from Gakhibana, Trek Ding from Vaalhoek, Nama Staap Group and Khura Khoen Cultural Group both from Lokgwabe. Welkom from Gabane was the only group from a place closer to the capital city.

Godfrey Maake of Ngwao Loshalaba told multitudes that converged to Tsabong Ecotourism Camel Park for the inaugural festival that the objective of the show is to promote polka as a traditional dance as well as to showcase its various moves.

According to Bock, polka has five moves that differ in ‘step and music’.

She said: “There is Two-step, Los Harlop, Bloes, Staap, and polka.” These dances are performed by couples and they move in a circle. She explained that although the dances are generally called polka, technically polka is when the dances are in a group.

The dancers came clad in colourful uniforms.  The women were putting on flowing skirts that blow away as they swing and turn during the dance. In some of the dances the men would beautifully hold down the women’s blowing skirts to stop them from revealing their thighs.

Polka uses the keyboard as the only music instrument. Every group brought its own keyboard and player. The keyboard players are also a marvel to watch. Some groups brought two players who played simultaneously on one keyboard. Among all the keyboard players Iponeng Bapalang, 19, from Khuis stole the show as he wowed the crowd with his energetic performance. He caressed and tapped the ivory while dancing to his fast beats to delight of spectators.

Kalahari Dancers from Streizedum were preceded by their old timers to show where the legacy of polka come from. Clad in black and white, the two elder couples that appeared rather frail before stepping onto the dance floor demonstrated their perfect agility.

At night before the crowd was invited to the dance floor the President sneaked onto the dance floor. He was alone for a few seconds dancing with an imaginary partner, but Tlhalefo van der Westhuizen from Gantsi rushed to the President and coupled with him.  There were jeers of excitement as Khama displayed his somewhat funny, but masterful Polka moves. After the President exited the dance floor it was officially opened for the crowd to display their Polka skills.

The part of the festival where the crowd graces the dance floor is the most favourite as everyone gets to be part of the event.  And that is why polka would stay in the mainstream traditional dance because it is a participatory dance.

Kalahari Polka Festival was sponsored by Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture in conjunction with Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO).

When officiating at the festival, Minister for Sport, Youth and Culture, Thapelo Olopeng, reiterated BTO chief executive officer Thabo Dithebe’s comments saying the event is aimed at diversifying tourism in Botswana from wildlife to cultural.Both Olopeng and Dithebe applauded Ngwao Loshalaba for coming up with the initiative saying it would assist in promoting the cultural tradition of the people of Kgalagadi as well as to improve cultural tourism.

Area MP and Assistant Minister of Local government and Rural Development, Frans van der Westhuizen, paid tribute to President Khama saying his love for polka greatly promoted the cultural dance of his constituency to reach the mainstream. He said if it were not for the President polka would still be confined to the Kgalagadi and Gantsi areas.