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Ntombiyolwandle Ndlovu, Sunday Life Reporter
Sekunjalo MaAfrica dance group recently beat nine other groups to win the Bulawayo Provincial traditional dance completion and earned the sole ticket to represent the province in the national finals of the Chibuku neshamwari traditional dance competition.
This is the second time the Magwegwe suburb-based dance outfit has won the provincial competition having prevailed in the 2014 competition.
Speaking to Sunday Life, group founder and leader Arnold Ndebele said he founded the group in 2012 with the aim to entertain people and promoting African cultures.
“Sekunjalo MaAfrica arts is an ensemble with both males and females. The group consists of 15 members, 8 boys and 7 girls.
We are based at Magwegwe Youth Centre where we practice and do all our rehearsals,” said Ndebele.
The group is unique from many other traditional groups as it empowers ladies who do traditional dancing.
“As a group we try by all means to empower the ladies. The group is gender balanced as opposed to other groups who are male dominated and in most cases consist of two or three ladies. Also we teach the girls drumming and during our performances, girls will be doing the drumming which is something unique from most of the groups,” said Ndebele.
Ndebele said their dances focus on traditional dance routines meant to revive our cultural heritage.
“We decided to major in traditional dances because of our cultural backgrounds. We saw that our African culture is being ignored by many people who have since adopted foreign cultures. People no longer value ubuntu hence our aim is to bring out our culture to the public and maintain it. However, we do other modern dances as well so as to remain relevant to the cultural dynamism,” he said.
The group envisions themselves performing on an international platform one day.
Sekunjalo dance leader is optimistic they will give other finalists in the national contest a good run for their money.
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