Popular Kuru San Dance festival resuscitated

GASEBALWE SERETSE
Staff Writer | Friday August 27, 2010 00:00

 

As usual, this popular festival attracted international audiences from neighbouring countries such as South Africa and Namibia while others came from other parts of the globe.

This important festival was not staged last year for a number of reasons and this sadly must have affected the attendance.

The festival kicked off with the healing and ritual dances on Friday night.  However, followers of the San culture have concurred over the years that these dances, which are performed around a bonfire, are just staged nowadays and have lost their true meaning. 

On the other hand, the Friday nights at the festival are reminiscent of the times when the San were still steep in their culture so they cannot just be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

The festival was officially opened the following day (Saturday) and the event was graced by a number of high-profile government officials and San elders.   The directors of ceremonies for the day were Kuela Kiema and the multi-lingual Xguka Krisjan.  Although for a long time Krisjan has been the life of the festival, this year, she performed below par.   Speaking at the event, Kgosi Sophie Morris challenged government to help them as the San to revive their culture.

 'Please bring back our culture so that people do not make profit through it.  Everybody should make profit out of their own cultures; our culture is gone and we want it back,' she lamented.

However, Kgosi Morris said that Kuru was not exclusively for the San adding that other merafe were welcome to showcase their cultures at the event. Speaking for government, the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism, Kitso Mokaila, said that his government supports and upholds initiatives like the Kuru San Dance Festival because they add value to the national economy as they diversify the Botswana tourism products and take tourism beyond wildlife and wilderness.

'The Kuru San dance festival epitomises the cultural richness and diversity that abounds in our country.  It is also one of the events that unite us as people.  There is strength in diversity.  There is also unity in diversity,' he said.

Mokaila further urged Batswana to appreciate events like the Kuru San Dance Festival because they bring back appreciation and respect for Batswana culture in order to reinforce a sense of national unity and pride.

The minister further pointed out that coincidently, on the same day, Namibians of Tswana origins in Omahake District were also celebrating a cultural festival called 'Motswana Boela Gae' in the town of Gobabbies.

Some of the groups that performed at this year's event included the Herero Dance Group, Tchabo/Qabo Dance Group, New Xade Arts Commune, West Hanahai Dance Group, Mohembo West Dance Group, Zutshwa Dance Group, Future Dance Group, Giraffe Dance Group, Khwe Dance Group, Kuke Dance Group, East Hanahai Dance Group, New Kanangas Dance Group, Etsha 6 Dance Group, Tsodilo/Dobe Dance Group, Kaputara Dance Group, Grootlagte Dance Group, Bere Dance Group and Hai//—m Dance Group.

Most revellers would agree that the habitual show-stealers from Paula Zanichillis Pre-School gave the adults a run for their money.  These little ones are undoubtedly born performers and their unpretentious offerings would most certainly melt even the coldest of the cold hearts.

Some of the individuals who spiced the festival up were the men labelled 'the senior boys' by some revellers.  The senior boys who are veteran Kuru dancers always came in handy to help other struggling groups and one can safely say that they saved the day although some people were not happy that it was not easy to tell which group they belonged to.  One of the senior boys is a master of the engaging acrobatic San dance style. Another group that stood out at the event was the Future Dance Group with their entertaining acrobatic dance moves.  There is no doubt that if this group survives it would be the future of San dance as the name aptly suggests.

Gantsi Trailblazers were also among the groups that greatly impressed.  This group is one of those that have been performing at the festival for a long time and certainly know what the audience want to see. The appearance of the Gaborone-based group, Diphala Dance Group, which is comprises mostly University of Botswana (UB) students, was controversial with some of the revellers wondering why they were at the festival.   One of their detractors, Armstrong Tingwane questioned why they were in the festival in the first place since they, unlike the San, have many platforms where they can showcase their talent.

However, one of the revellers told Arts & Culture that he saw nothing wrong with the group performing as they offered something different, a sentiment that was shared by one of the organisers, Kuela Kiema. Diphala, which also included some white exchange students, offered phathisi and setapa.

One of the groups that gave dismal offerings was the Hai//—m Dance Group originally from Etosha in Namibia.One could not help empathise with this group when Kiema explained that they had been forcibly removed from their land to make way for a park during the apartheid era. 

Could this have contributed to them losing some aspects of their culture?  Instead of wearing animal hides they were clad in sacks and their dancing routine was below average.

As usual in the morning session on Saturday, the groups performed what is termed entertainment dances, which were later followed by the entertainment rhythmic dances in the afternoon.  Instrumental music followed later in the evening.  Interestingly, this year the groups were not named after their clans most of which speak distinct languages.  Instead, the groups were named after different regions and places they come from.

This year, the event was sponsored by among others, the Department of Arts and Culture in the Ministry of Youth, Sport and Culture, Botswana Housing Corporation (BHC), Spar Supermarket, Gantsi Farmers Supplies, Barclays Bank of Botswana, Tholo Safaris, Clive Eaton and the Jerling family.