Published by the government of Zimbabwe
6 November 2008
Harare — A FESTIVAL to commemorate the Jerusarema/Mbende Dance will be held this month at Murehwa Centre, Mashonaland East Province.
The two-day festival, which is being organised by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe, would be held between the 14th and 15th of this month.
Jerusarema/Mbende Dance was proclaimed by Unesco as a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
The proclamation was meant to preserve the dance from the danger of distortion and extinction owing to commercialisation.
The dance is one of the country's protest dances used by the people of Murehwa to express their feelings and desires.
Jerusarema is characterised by energetic and bodily movements done by both men and women as they dance to the polyrhythmic drum beat accompanied by woodblock clapping by men.
While dancing, men and women crouch, jerk arms and kick with one leg vigorously imitating a burrowing mole.
The mole is regarded as a symbol of fertility, sexuality and family.
Before colonial rule, this ancient fertility dance was called Mbende which means mole in Shona.
Under the influence of Christianity, missionaries condemned the sexually explicit routine, resulting in the change of name to Jerusarema meant to give the dance a religious feel.
Even under missionary disapproval, the dance remained popular, becoming a source of pride and inspiration for the struggle against colonial rule.
Today, the dance is changing its character, meaning and intentions as more and more groups use it as a source of income and the original long drum (mutumba) rattles as well as whistles have been replaced by poor quality instruments.
NACZ project co-ordinator Cuthbert Maziwa said the festival was meant to preserve the dance and pass on the skills to the young who are the future dance practitioners.
"This festival is the first of its kind and we are expecting more than 10 groups from Murehwa and Uzumba to participate.
"We also have schoolchildren from Uzumba and Murehwa who will take part as they are the leaders of tomorrow hence the need to pass the dance on to them. We also want to market the dance and the festival to the localities so that they continue preserving their culture," he said.
He also added that the festival would be held annually and groups from schools will compete in the Jikinya Dance Festival.
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