Being a stickler for all things African, I often find myself at a loss of words at the ingenuity of my fellow African brothers and sisters. When it comes to artistic expression, Africans are as fluid on the dance floor as German cars are on the road. While I take pride in the fluidity of dancers from the motherland, I for one cannot get my limbs to co-operate rhythmically hence I contentedly appreciate the art of dance from the side-lines.
While appreciating African music and dance, I happened to stumble upon a video which left me at a loss of words. I didn’t know whether to laugh, cry or clap in applause yet, in my mind there was need to do something…
http://youtu.be/bdFhaESKPSU
The dancer reminded me of an old tree…swaying in the wind, shivering in the rain, standing dead still on a sunny summer day, yet in all seasons it dances. Whether fast-paced-limb-jolting Rhumba in torrents and thunderstorms, or a slower Dhaanto as one sheds life’s sorrows or perhaps the more playful Alkayida or Azonto, dance says volumes and sheds untold burdens. Whether you’re king or queen of the dance floor, or disjointed like some of us, let your spirit run free and dance to the tune that beckons from above. Whether the tune calls you to mourn, weep, rejoice or to leap for joy, get lost in the music and dance all the same…
Now that you’re nodding your head to this African beat, here is the original video of the song Alkayida by Guru, to which the dancer in the video above is swaying.