For the first time many Batswana and many viewers of Btv across Africa would be privileged to enjoy this unique Botswana dance heritage by Hambukushu dance groups from Parakarungu, Satau, and Shakawe.
According to one of the dance coaches of this dance style in Shakawe, Matseo Kanyoka, Diware, whose group, Mushamba Wa Kasi is one of the three to be participating at the SSKB on Sunday, says Diware dance is actually a traditional Hambukushu healing ritual. She says the ritual is still alive today in places like Maun, Gumare, Etsha, Kasane, where traditional healers use song and dance to revive a patient. She tells Showbiz that traditionally the Hambukushu would consult the healer, then the song and dance would start as woman, dressed in long skirts, and shawls on their shoulders, cap hands and sing Tjimbukushu healing songs for the medicine-man. The climax of the ceremony is when the medicine man successfully cast away the sickness, reviving the patient into a healthy, vibrant person, who immediately joins the medicine man with some energetic dance moves in celebration of the healing.
