Acholi Dance

Gulu is located in Northern Uganda, a region mostly inhabited by the Acholi ethnic group. On Saturday we met with an Acholi chief, and he gave us a tour of Patiko, an Acholi historical site that was originally a base for Arab slave traders in Northern Uganda, until a British adventurer turned it into a base from which to protect the Acholi from the slave trade. Today it is simply ruins, the brown stones piled in half-walls marking what used to be storage sheds and chapels.

After that we went to the Acholi cultural center in Gulu, where we learned more about Acholi culture, including traditional Acholi dance. The first dance we learned was the traditional courtship dance, where the young men and women of the tribe dance together, each showing off their skills and ending with the women choosing their husbands. The men played drums made from calabashes while they dances. I was very grateful that I didn't have to focus on playing an instrument, because Acholi dancing is hard! There was a lot of hip shaking involved, and this weird forward-backward shimmy thing that I was never able to figure out. It didn't help that we weren't really taught this dance as much as we were simply thrown in and instructed as we went. A large crowd gathered to watch us, including many children who spent most of the dance pointing at us and laughing. I can't say I blame them, I'm sure we look absolutely ridiculous. After spending so long in another culture where I'm not always sure what things mean or what I'm supposed to do, I've accepted the fact that I'm going to make a fool out of myself quite often. I definitely did on Saturday, but it was so much fun that I am 100% ok with that.