By Anesu Chakanetsa

CULTURE-sharing through traditional dance has for long been a common component of society holding the people of Zimbabwe together.
The Harare provincial finals of the Chibuku Neshamwari Dance Festival recently held at Warren Park Bar in Harare was an exhibition of different traditional dance performances from around the country.
In recent years the competition has become a high-stakes event.
The Nyau dance has become popular and Gule Walamkulu (Nyau dance), dominated this year, with eye-catching dances during the festival.
Agure Maramure, a Mbare-based traditional Nyau dance group emerged winners of the tightly contested dance competition.
The runners-up were Pasichigare of GlenView, who staged a medley of Isithsikithsa, Mbende, Muchongoyo and Mbakumba dances.
Another Nyau dance group, Kondanani of Dzivarasekwa, scooped the third prize.
Other Nyau dance groups that took part in the festival were Dedza Chitandizo Gure, Gasani Moto and Landilani Amanyau.
The National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) and Zimbabwe National Traditional Dancers Association (ZNTDA) organised the competition which was established in 1963.
Nyau dances are prominent in Harare’s high density suburbs like Mufakose, Mabvuku, Dzivarasekwa and Mbare, as well as in farming and mining communities.
Nyabira and Chitungwiza also have popular Nyau dancers.
Some Nyau myths say before graduating to be a Nyau, one has to spend a night in a cemetery eating raw chicken and when one falls down and gets injured while running away from a Nyau chaser, the wound won’t heal.
In 2005, Nyau dance was classified as one of the 90 masterpieces of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity, a programme by UNESCO to preserve intangible cultural heritage.
It has become one of the only remaining dances performed during rituals in Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
This dance dates back to the 17 Century Chewa Empire and is known as gulu la anamwaliri (great dance to our ancestors).
Nyau dancers observe a series of secret rituals which are associated with their society, a secret brotherhood.
They perform at funerals, rituals, initiations and other celebrations.
The purpose of the dance is said to be a way of communicating messages of the ancestors to the villagers for the purpose of maintaining dignity and continued harvests and long life.
Nyau dance is a protection against evil and an expression of religious beliefs that permeate society, participants say.
The dance involves intricate footwork and flinging of dust into the air.
The dancers appear in masks representing the dead, the living or animals.
Like in Harare’s high density suburbs, the weak-kneed run away from such dances because of the scary masks and ritual activities.
While Nyau may be considered a folkdance in many areas of Zimbabwe, this, however, is not the case.
It is a religious dance that has prevailed for centuries.
The masks depict a lot; either success or failure.
And there are many different masks, for example, Bwana wokwera pandege which portray a ‘whiteman in a plane’.
This depicts a whiteman who had money in his lifetime and takes it with him into the ancestral world.
The most frightening character of the dance wears a Chabwera Kumanda mask, which means the one who came from the grave.
This character misreads people and resembles an ancestor who hunts people in their dreams in order to get attention and offerings.
Animal masks also portray respect for the dead, the living and the yet to be born.
The Mkango (lion) portrays the evil spirit of the ancestors, which threatens and even kills people.
It illustrates that ancestors must not be annoyed, just like a lion.
More information about the nature of Nyau dances and rituals are not known since the elders forbid the release of cultural secrets to the uninitiated.
In 2015, a community of Nyau dancers, known as National Dance Association of Gure, accused Prophet Walter Magaya, the Prophetic Healing and Deliverance leader, of divulging their cultural secrets.
The Nyau community complained its ‘secrets’ had been aired on the ‘man-of-God’s’ Yadah Television.
Keeping their cultural secrets is what defines them.
But the events that unfolded at Warren Park Bar were for the purpose of portraying dances not for ritual purposes.
Nyadzisai Mirisawu of ZNTDA praised the Nyau dancers for being dedicated to their culture.
“Unlike contemporary Muchongoyo, Mbende and Mbakumba dancers who are more of commercial dancers, Nyau dancers are more focused on perpetuating their culture and that’s why they dominate traditional dance competitions,” said Mirisawu.
The Nyau community boasts a staggering 450 dance groups, while the existing Shona and Ndebele traditional dance groups continue to decline.
However, the dance is no longer frightening since it is now presented at competitions like Chibuku Neshamwari.
Could it be that it has been demystified?