adminLungelo Ndhlovu Showbiz Correspondent
PANTSULA jive, a dance routine popular with kwaito songs, is fast invading the religious domain as Pentecostal churches in Bulawayo are welcoming the secular entertainment trend.Such is the case with Word of Life Ministries in Bulawayo, which organised a dance competition, “Pantsula for Christ” that attracted 11 groups from the city.
The competition was held at Stanley Hall in Makokoba recently.
The group Snippers from Old Lobengula were the winners of this year’s Pantsula for Christ competition and walked away with cash and a trophy.
They beat 10 other pantsula groups such as Loxion Stones (second place), Skyshakers (third place), Western Trompies, Freaky Cousins, Pumula Revolution, Shikisha Mapantsula and Magesh.
The groups were drawn from high density suburbs of Lobengula, Mzilikazi, Makokoba, Old Pumula, Nketa and Magwegwe.
Snippers’ representative Ezra Dube said they were happy to win the first prize.
According to the show’s organisers, the competition was meant to also promote the young entertainers.
The aim was to preach the gospel while providing entertainment.
“Our aim is to promote Omapantsula at the same time preaching the word of God. We encourage them to dance to Christian songs or adopt biblical stories as a way of ministering to others. There’s so much talent in the young boys of Bulawayo so it’s up to us to build them,” said Mncedisi Nyathi, the director for the competitions.
Pantsula, popularly known throughout southern Africa, adopted a spontaneous expression of the lives of young men and women in townships that needed a way out of misery, especially in South Africa.
In Zimbabwe pantsula became a very popular dance of the townships in the early 1980s among young men and women.
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