adminSpeaking yesterday about his book, Zimbabwean Traditional Dances, Nyathi said it was important to know the dances and their origin.
He said it was unfair for the dance to be named in SiNdebele when actually it was a Kalanga dance.
“The dance is actually called woso in Kalanga. I feel it is not fair for the dance to be popularised in SiNdebele while its real name is woso in Kalanga. It is a Kalanga dance and should be popularised in the language,” said Nyathi.
He said there needs to be literature to teach people on the different dances in the country so as to get background information about the dances.
“Woso is the dance of focus in this year’s Jikinya. Teachers and people from other parts of the country such as Mashonaland, Midlands, Manicaland and Masvingo do not know the dance, but if there is literature on the dance it is easier to teach their pupils the dances. The books can give them the grounding and information they need,” said Nyathi.
He said next year the dance of focus for Jikinya Dance Festival would be the “mbende”, popularly known as “jerusalema”, and there would be a book to teach people more about the dance.
“Next year the dance will be the mbende, which is used in rainmaking and the people from the southern part of the country are totally blank about it. So it is imperative that the dances in our country should be compiled,” said Nyathi.
He said at the end of next month there would be a book that would have the complete woso dance.
“We were rushing to do the workshop last week and we just have an introductory book on the dances. I will release a book that will have video footage on how to do the dance. A group will be doing the dance and that will be effective in giving a visual demonstration of how the dance is done,” said Nyathi.
Online Reporter