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Perils of being a female dancer in Uganda

Friday June 22 2018
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Members of Spirit of dance group, in their recent dance rehearsals at the Redeemed Church Makerere. PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI | NMG

By BAMUTURAKI MUSINGUZI

On an early Tuesday evening three female members of the Spirit of Dance group are rehearsing various moves at the Redeemed Church Makerere in preparation for their forthcoming stage performance.

They began their rigorous rehearsals in the Conference Room on the third floor of the church with a contemporary ballet piece titled Lord, You’re Holy, a praise and worship piece.

They followed it up with Lingala ya Yesu and Hyper, both combining modern and African traditional moves.

The group was later joined by two other females dancers and a male dance and performed Imela, a mixture of a number of African traditional dances including the vigorous Ugandan Kiga dance Ekizino and a modern dance piece We Speak to Nations.

The Spirit of Dance will hold a dance performance on June 29 at the Redeemed Church Makerere in Kampala. The theme of the overnight event is Celebrating God’s Faithfulness.

Spirit of Dance group that was formed early this year and is made up of seven female and male dancers. They rehearse every Tuesday at the Redeemed Church Makerere.

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“We have a strong Christian background. So we tailor our dances to suit our God given purpose for us. We are planning to set up a dance studio in Namasuba in November,” said group leader Sylvia Nalubega.

According to Nalubega, the group focuses on training young people how to express themselves through modern dance like ballet, salsa and Ugandan traditional dances.

“We get our inspiration from traditional Ugandan dances. They are extremely rich in terms of expression, diversity and originality. All our traditional dances have a concept and story attached to them.

“I would advise young people in as much as they crave hip-hop, they should strive to build their skills and inspiration from our tradition dances,” Nalubega told The EastAfrican.

“I am also focusing on and developing dance trainers who will pass on dancing skills to others.

There is a demand for dance trainers to train, organise concerts, develop concepts for theatre for dance, as well as dance for physical fitness,” said Nalubega, who is a choreographer.

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Sylvia Nalubega, leader of Spirit of Dance group. PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI | NMG

Career prospects

But dancing is not a mainstream career in Uganda, and neither is it an easy one to, pursue for women who choose it.

Female dancers, whether in secular or church groups, have to grapple with the challenges of male dominance, taboos and cultural pressure and lack of knowledge of opportunities outside the performance stage to further their careers.

These challenges were highlighted at an art forum held recently under the theme Perspectives of Female Dancers in Uganda, at the Goethe Zentrum Kampala sponsored by the Ugandan-German Cultural Society.

The forum brought together stakeholders in the field of dance who analysed challenges facing female dancers in East Africa and came up with new perspectives on how to improve the situation.

“As a female dancer, you’re supposed to behave according to how traditional society defines a woman and her role in society. for you. In my case, I had to contend with my parents’view about dance as a career. They thought modern was immoral,” said Rosemary Atim, a career dancer.

“When I eventually made them understand that it was important to me and I wanted to take it up as a career, they decided to guide me. This was after they learned that there were successful dancers in Uganda,” she added. Atim is also a choreographer.

Softer roles

She recalls that when she joined the dance industry, she realised that girls restricted to softer roles in male-dominated dance companies.

“Male dancers believe that girls cannot perform aggressive and energetic dance moves. The opinions of girls don’t count either because they are not or allowed to come up with dance concepts. They will encourage you to create solo projects for women only and then support you.”

Dancer and choreographer Catherine Kasalina, Nakawesa however argues: “As female dancers, we need to define ourselves. What is my definition of me? Probably men don’t want to be defined by women. But women are always being defined by men and there are some women who say ‘I want to perform like the men.”

“We should be asking ourselves, ‘What do I want as a female dancer?’ What if we abandon what society thinks of us so that we can judge yourself we are successful or not. Decide what you are and use it as a guide for your success,” Nakawesa added.

On his part Collin Christopher Lubega, a male dancer and choreographer, said, “Some female dancers have resigned to the fact that women are the weaker sex. So they think that they should be led by men. If you have quality works, your bargaining power will be higher.”

This is is exactly what the all-female dance production of Orange Moon set out to schieve in March at The Square in Kampala.

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A scene from the all-female production Orange Moon performed by the trio of Lilian Maxmillian Nabaggala, Vivienne Lutteken, and Kifuko Key Drichiru. PHOTO COURTESY OF ORANGE MOON

Inspiration

The production, by the trio of Lilian Maxmillian Nabaggala, Vivienne Lutteken, and Kifuko Key Drichiru was inspired by the mysticism of the female moon image.

The three dancers explored a cross-cultural dialogue about female power and womanhood through dance. With this production, they aimed to encourage more women to embrace and explore their creative skills. The music was by Faizal Mostrixx Ddamba.

“We picked the Orange Moon because the colour orange represents many emotions such as joy, sunshine, enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement. We used the moon as a unifying factor,” Drichiru said.

She is a dancer, performer, choreographer, mentor, dance instructor and production co-ordinator and also festival co-ordinator.

“I work with male-dominated dance groups and I struggle so hard to prove yourself. So we put up Orange Moon to show that women can do well too on their own. You can use the male groups to your advantage and not put yourself down that you can’t do it,” Drichiru said.

Lutteken, said: “Orange Moon was about celebrating what we have. We celebrated the strength we have as three women. It wasn’t about ‘let’s show the men’ or to prove a challenge or competition.”

On the challenges facing female dance crews in Uganda, Nakawesa told The EastAfrican: “Focus. We could learn from the guys’ do-or-die attitude. I have deep respect for male-driven dance companies like Tabu Flo, Break Dance Project Uganda and Vizuri, who are consistently producing great work, initiating community projects, supporting each other and creating ways to thrive commercially. I think it begins with believing in yourself, having a clear vision and going for it, come hell or high waters.”

No challenges

Meanwhile, Malaika Joy commonly known as Malaika Belly Dancer believes women dance face no challenges.

“I was in an all-female dance troupe before and we were invited to perform everywhere for all events. I think women dancers need to be more charismatic and push themselves more to get more visibility. Try something unique and different so they can stand out.”

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Malaika Joy in performance. PHOTO | MORGAN MBABAZI | NMG

Nakawesa acknowledges that Uganda like many other African countries lacks professional arts managers and this is affecting female dance groups in the country.

“When I was in West Africa, I visited Ecole Des Sables, in Senegal and CDC La Termitiere in Ouagadougou, where I noticed it was quite common for dancers to work within a triangular team consisting of the artiste, a manager and a technician.

“This was new to me, because I was coming from a place where we did everything ourselves from creating, producing, marketing, stitching costumes and if you're lucky, a friend will help you operate the lighting.”

“Whether male or female, dance groups in Kampala have for the longest time operated in this jua kali (Informal) manner. There are many reasons for this, ranging from lack of understanding of business principles, to lack of trust but mostly it is a shortage of money to engage a professional support team.

“Limited resources have taught us to work with what we have, harness our networks and achieve some results. However, I think overall our dance industry could grow much faster if the dancers collaborated with people who possess business acumen.

“I think that is the difference between subsistence artistes, who say, ‘oh we're doing this as a passion, for ourselves, let's see where it goes’ and grand scale professional artistes,” Nakawesa added.

“The lack of professional arts managers has affected the production of quality dance pieces due to work load involved such as handling social media promotion, dealing with clients, travel paper work, seeking rehearsal space, which can drain a crew meaning less time being dedicated to the creative process resulting in poor quality or mediocre works of art, that will not earn them a decent pay,” Nabaggala told The EastAfrican.

“This demotivates the crews since it makes them experience burnout which tears the groups apart,” Nabaggala added.

Societal pressure

Nabaggala, a freelance dancer and choreographer lamented that, “after marriage child birth, some women dancers abandon dancing altogether because society judges mothers who dance. This is limiting us. How do we encourage mothers to dance?”

It took Malaila Joy a while to return to the stage after having a baby in 2012.

“Obviously your body changes and will not be as toned as before. It was very difficult for me to start dancing again after a fouryear break. It took a lot of guts and working hard in the gym to get back into shape. It worked. And I started performing everywhere for all events. I think women should not put themselves in a box and have the guts to try,” she said.

“I know some women who have had children and carried on dancing, like the formidable Grace Ibanda, co-founder of Okulamba Dance Company and one of my first teachers at the Nabagereka’s Kampala Ballet and Modern Dance School,” Nakawesa said.

Malaika Joy suggests that “women should try their best to keep fit, stay in shape. It is difficult but the rewards are worth it if dancing is your passion. Everyone should make time for themselves and their passion in life. If they do, then they can succeed and be more fulfilled and happy. I started small then got better with time. Just trust in yourself.”

Perspectives also matter and for Nakawesa there is a time for everything. “I believe in seasons. It is written that there’s a time for everything and everything is beautiful in its time.

‘‘I think that there is a time to fire off one's dance career on all pistons. Should a child come along, there is a time to pay careful, even undivided attention to the fragile young life, and then there is a time to wean the baby. And the a time wll come to return to oneself.

“Even a time to transition to a different or higher form of one’s craft. What’s important is to recognise the season one is in, embrace it, relish it and have the courage to step out into the next phase of your life," Nakawesa added.

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A scene from the all-female production Orange Moon performed by the trio of Lilian Maxmillian Nabaggala, Vivienne Lutteken, and Kifuko Key Drichiru. PHOTO COURTESY OF ORANGE MOON

Opportunities

Nakawesa also believes that there is no shortage of opportunities for all-female dance crews.

"A few years ago, a friend and I started Beautiful Feet Dance Company, an all-female troupe. We performed at events, festivals and created our own full length show, Virtue, in 2013.

“Thereafter, the group transitioned into a collective, operating on a project by project basis and the members progressed into business, education and leadership, exploration of diverse talents, starting families, and some became dance entrepreneurs, like Jacqlynne Tumusiime who’s running Autumn Studios Kampala."

“There are many opportunities for dancers to work in areas like education, health, marketing, entertainment and cultural preservation. More than waiting to be handed jobs, we have to take initiative and propose payable solutions in these fields, so as to develop financially while impacting lives beyond the stage," Nakawesa added.

"So far, since I have been dancing again, I have performed on stage by myself for a myriad of events, from weddings to corporate events to even performing at diplomatic events and also for television shows, Neither do I shy away from huge auditoriums with thousands of people in the audience. I have travelled abroad for this work," said Malaika Joy, who also works with Kampala Ameteur Dramatic Society producing plays mostly working on costumes and design.

"I am the only professional belly dancer in Uganda from what I know. Belly dancing is a very beautiful traditional dance from the Middle East and has been adapted all over the world for its unique and feminine style. I like the traditional style of belly dance but I have adapted a more modern style as well which is exciting and fun to watch," Malaika Joy added.

No written contracts

According to Atim, "Jobs are mainly got through word of mouth and that sometimes makes payment difficult since there are no written contracts and gigs are arranged verbally. Sometimes when seeking payment, the mobile phones of the organisers are switched off.

Some of us are now insisting on binding contracts, and we have been branded disrespectful by some event planners. But we are breaking the barriers even though some organisers are not moving with the times."

Drichiru is however optimistic about the future of female dance groups in Uganda, saying: "I see a general growth in the number of women in dance. I see female groups starting to collaborate, teach and encourage others, sharing skills and techniques of different dance styles.

"This is promising, it’s definitely better than how it was 10 years ago. I see more women mentoring the young generation. This to me shows that the scene is growing and that the future is promising."

Drichiru emphasised the importance of women dance role models for the youth. "We should be for them and guide them. Although some upcoming dancers don’t want to work with successful dancers thinking that they will be over shadowed by the more experienced dancers."

"We need to share our dance skills with the young ones so that they can take up our roles in future," Lubega said.

"We should give the young ones a chance to experience dance but we should not pressure them to take up dancing as a career," Lutteken concluded.

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