SQUARE DANCING

This was an entry in my December Newsletter. If you don't receive them and wish to, email me at nickjimenez8@gmail.com.

Funerals are quite different in Ghana. Though there is mourning that occurs and a burial process, on the fourth day after the death, are large celebration is planned. All day women will brew Pito (local beer), and drums will be carved to provide the music. Anybody who knew the deceased (and often many others that didn’t know them) will arrive for the celebration.

People from all the surrounding villages will come to attend the jubilation. Each community will send a group of dancers, who will dress up in traditional dress or even soccer uniforms. The music has already started and everyone dances in a large circle around the center stage which provides the ground shaking beat. At the center of the clearing, are two large drums carved out of tree trunks. A third man holds a typical ‘talking drum’ which allows you to alter the pitch of the drum by squeezing the tension strings.

The girls then form a circle around the musicians and perform a square dance with considerable hip movement. Their hips shake quickly and their footwork is complex. On the outside of that circle is a larger one that the men form. Dressed in traditional wear, they perform a choreographed dance including stomping and lose arm movement. They usually attach metal rings to the backs of their ankles to make a percussion-like tambourine sound when they stomp the ground. I saw that the same rules apply in Africa that do in Canada. Women can dance better than men!

I began by watching this spectacle of advanced square dancing, from the side lines. After studying what seemed like a basic step, I joined the circle. Within moments, I was handed a small tree branch with leaves on it, to swing with my left hand. After that I was handed a child’s cap gun to wield with my right hand. Fully loaded I started waving and shooting to the beat.

After 20minutes of dancing, two small boys were going around to the dancers on the outside with a 15L bucket of what seemed to be water. What tipped me off as odd was that they were serving it with a small cup. Suspecting something other than water, I passed, and so did my co-dancer. The boy poured out half of the small cup, leaving and ounce or two and gave it to a small girl beside him. I later found out it was alcohol! One last aspect I loved was that babies learn to dance before they walk. Ladies with their newborns strapped to their backs didn’t hold back, joining the dancing while their child’s legs dangled.