The dance of the Kalahari !Kung
The Kung people of the Kalahari desert are a hunter gather group whose culture goes back at least as far as the Pleistocene period. The Kung are also a nomadic group moving their camps as the seasons change and dictate. Rather than making up one large community the kung, as a whole, are made up of smaller groups that occupy the Dobe area of the Kalahari desert in South Africa.
Although the Kung live in separate camps they have a large understanding of community. Any member of one camp can freely walk into another camp to visit friends and relatives. This communal tie is greatest during the healing dance when people from many camps can come together to dance, sing or just to enjoy the atmosphere that is experienced during the dance.
It is the healing dance that is the main subject of this piece. The dance can at times be performed several times in a month but the Kung may also go several weeks without performing the dance. Although healing is the main reason the Kung perform the dance this is sometimes not the only reason the dance takes place. Those who take part in the dance consist of the women (both young and old), adolescent males, young men and the more mature males.
A typical dance lasts from dusk till dawn and it is the women folk who begin the process. When a dance has been arranged it is the women who gather the wood for a central fire around which the dance takes place. The Kung women build the fire and sit around it shoulder to shoulder with their legs interlocked. The women then begin singing the num songs and clapping. It is the song and clapping that stimulate the dancers to dance.
The dancers for the most part are male but this is not a rule women too can dance if they choose. In the early stages of the dance the singing and clapping are light compared to the more intense singing when the dance is at its peek. This gives the adolescent males a chance to practice their dance moves. As the night draws on the singing and clapping intensify allowing the young men and mature males to dance and to receive and activate their num.
