Dance away to the Acholi dingi dingi
Acholi dancers perform the dingi dingi. The dance is performed at merrymaking functions and sometimes to show that there are active young girls in the community. Courtesy photo
Dingi Dingi dance is a traditional children’s dance of the Acholi people of northern Uganda who occupy Gulu, Kitgum, Lamwo, Pader, Nwoya districts, among others. The name dingi dingi is derived from the sound made by the small drums beaten by the drummers.
“In traditional African culture, parents always had a way of finding out the physical wellbeing and ability of their children.
In Acholi, dingi dingi became more of a yardstick to understand this, because the dances are vigorous with very complex movements. Young girls would dance as their parents watched,” Sam Okello-kello, the director Mizizi Ensemble, a cultural group, says.
Philimena Achieng, 80, an elder, says the dance was also developed through the various games that young girls played. Parents, having enjoyed seeing their children enhanced and encouraged them making it one of Acholi’s popular dances.
Composition
The movements arise from everyday experiences of the Acholi girls. “That is why while dancing, the girls mimic movements of the antelope, the beauty of the Crested Crane, or like soldiers but still, maintain the signature of childishness and the intrigue in the young mind,” Okello-kello says. David Stanley Mukooza, the director and trainer at Afri performers, a Makindye-based cultural group, explains that the dance is performed by an odd number of dancers who are led by a captain.
On the one hand, the boys provide the music, by beating two small drums, a big one and calabashes with wire brush beaters as an accompaniment and the flute to bring out the rhythmic tempo.
On the other, the girls dance vigorously in linear and circular formations with their waists, hips and chests swaying while raising their hands slightly above their waits as they mildly move to the rhythm.
Najjuma Harriet, a dancer in Afri performers, describes the dance as vigorous with shaking of the chest and waist, and exceptionally competitive. Traditionally, dingi dingi was performed on ceremonies where men could choose the girl whose vigor stood out among other girls during the dance. To perform the dance therefore, one needs to be very energetic.
The drummers, working together with the captain, who is also the lead dancer and whistle blower, control and give the flow of the entire performance.
At some point, the drums are sounded frantically with a heavy and fast rhythm, as the dancers also follow suit which when the captain blows the whistle, immediately stops. Then a lazy, softer and slower rhyme is given as the dancers move around as though to refresh and brace themselves for another session of vigorous dancing.
The drums are accompanied by songs by singers who also cheer on the dancers and drummers.
Okello-kello says one of the major traditional values of this dance is the portrayal of sexuality. The beauty of an African woman and feminine pride is expressed through shaking the waist, breasts and hips.
“As the girls are dancing, they are telling the men ‘look here, I am grown up now, look at how flexible my waist is. I can also sway my breasts and hips’. And indeed at the end of the dance, men would choose a wife among the best dancers.”
Purpose of the dance
It is performed for the purpose of play and self-amusement for the children. The songs, combined with the dances instill cultural and traditional values of unity, beauty, sexuality, and energy of the female sex, but also talk about the day to day life of people in society.
With the energy attached to its performance, it is evidence that there are fresh active young girls in the community. The dance is performed in merrymaking functions to welcome people such as weddings, introduction and initiation ceremonies.
Micheal Mutagubya, a dance trainer at African Dancers troupe, however, mentions that the dance and songs have changed over time.
Originally, the dancers would be young girls below 15 years but with the numerous cultural groups, older females can be included in the dance since groups have permanent entertainers.
Dingi dingi was also restricted to girls alone but some cultural performers include male dancers.
Despite the changes in dingi dingi, it is still a remarkable aspect of Acholi functions perhaps a sign of togetherness among the people who hail from northern Uganda.
Interpreting the attires
Micheal Mutagubya, a dance trainer at African Dancers troupe, Masaka says: “The dancers wear half bras that cover their breasts and short raffia skirts that stop above the knee to enable easy movement of their legs while they dance.
They also tie a fairly small cloth around their waists and beads in order to exaggerate the movement of the waist, while whistle and pellet bells are tied on the legs of girl dancers.
The boys on the other hand put on vests and shorts, ankle bells (gara), hamlets (aula) for the exaggeration of the movement of the arm but also as a musical accompaniment.
