Where is gumboot dancing performed

To add to the working conditions, Van Borek said, the mines flooded. With the harsh working conditions, Van Borek said there were strict rules as well. Previous story Folk rock rhythm for Hi Neighbour dance. South Africa English. Choose your country and language:. Back Sign Up Sign In. Sign Up. Enter your email address. Create a password. Confirm your password. Create account. Sign up with Facebook Sign up with LinkedIn.

Sign In. Vibrant culture The fascinating story behind the birth of gumboot dancing. Add to wish list Find a Travel Trade Partner. Did You Know? S S ome of the moves were even developed in mock imitation of the way the mine operators themselves moved. Who to contact. How to get there. Around the area. They brought with them hopes of better prospects, rhythm, and song and dance. This sound would be a code or a different calling to say something to another person a few distances away.

It was basically used as their language in the mining grounds. Gumboot dancer in Olomouc, Czech Republic at a show about Zulu culture. The gumboot dance or Isicathulo is an South African dance that is performed by dancers wearing wellington boots. Due to the extremely poor conditions, mine managers saw the easiest solution to be the outfitting of workers with a uniform consisting of no shirt; a bandana to keep the sweat off the brow, and in order to combat the damp — Gumboots.

Workers were often not allowed to communicate with one another, which led to them developing their own sort of Morse code through slapping their gumboot covered feet with their hands. With little or no other freedoms allowed to them, it was not long before the workers developed this into the full fledged expressive art of Gumboot Dancing.

A rhythmical, percussive, almost The whole effect creates something akin to a whole body drum, and one cannot but admire the skill required, the visual and aural picture painted.

Some of the moves were even developed in mock imitation of the way the mine operators themselves moved. Contemporary gumboot dancing has more varied themes, but follow similar paths, if only due to origin.

The famous Drakensberg Choir even incorporates Gumboot dancing as part of their African-folk routine. Most festivals have at least one group performing, and gumboot dancing buskers have become regulars at tourist hotspots. The end of Apartheid allowed dance to flourish in a way it had never before, with South Africa embracing and utilising its artistic heritage - to create new and exciting expression through movement, and breathing new life into the old.

In this section we investigate that crucial core question.