Sudanese Dancing

In December 2007, I had the unique and unexpected privilege of observing traditional forms of both northern and south Sudanese dancing in one night.



The experience began with an invitation from one of my Sudanese colleagues. Zaria, a Program Associate in my unit, invited me to attend part of her neice's wedding, namely the bridal dancing.

The wedding was held at something called the Family Club, an event hall in Khartoum 2. When I arrived at the location, I was surprised to find a number of Southern Sudanese dancing on the street outside the Family Club. From what I could tell, these individuals, dressed in a variety of traditional costumes and performing a range of dancing, represented different tribes from South Sudan. At first I was quite confused about what they were doing there. And although I never quite figured it out, I did discover that they were associated with an event called "Give Peace a Chance," which was going on in another part of the Family Club.



I'm afraid I cannot identify which tribes most of these dancers belong to. Nevertheless, I thought you might enjoy seeing these photos. (I apologize for the quality of many of these photos. Unfortunately, my camera flash tends to reflect off of the dust in the air here.)







I know I said I wouldn't try to identify the tribes to which these dancers belong. However, I am 80% sure this woman is Dinka.







In light of all of the commotion outside the Family Club, I had some trouble finding Zaria and her family. But after a few phone calls and such, I was able to locate her and was led into a large room, filled with a few hundred well-dressed women.



I'm not sure how much to say about the bride's dancing. I was told specifically that I could not take pictures during the dancing, and I have to admit that it felt like I was being let in on some great secret. Although women and girls clearly grow up attending these events, men are uniformly excluded. The only man allowed is the groom (with the exception of a hand full of young boys who are there with their mothers). I can imagine that young men grow up speculating about what goes on during those few hours of female bonding.

Therefore, so as not to reveal some huge secret, I will not go into much detail. What I will say is this: this was probably the first night since I arrived in Sudan that I felt like I was in Sudan. Unfortunately, unlike in Eritrea, I do not really know in Sudanese socially. And unlikely in Eritrea, I have not been invited home to celebrate the holidays with Sudanese friends or colleagues. Moreover, unlikely my friends based in the field, I work in an office building that is just like any other office building anywhere in the world, where I seldom interact with Sudanese who do not work for the UN. And although I have Sudanese colleagues, it does not necessarily feel like I am part of their world. Thus, it was nice to finally do something that was unique to Sudan.

The celebration itself was incredibly uplifting. It was an amazing feeling to be surrounding by so many women...and just women. Everyone was in a great mood. Many of the women had their feet and/or hands painted with henna. They were all dressed in bright colors. And when the bride came on to dance--on a table in the middle of the room--a few women sang and played the drums while the rest clapped and cheered.

The bride performed three dances, all of which went on for at least 20 to 30 minutes and were actually quite similar. The biggest distinction was the outfit. For each dance the bride wore a different formal dress. Each time, the bride came out completely covered, including her face, and accompanied by her new husband. They both stood on the table, and while she danced, the groom walked in circles around the bride, clapping and dabbing her forehead and neck with a handkerchief. Once the dancing had begun, the bride removed some of the layers of cloth she had been wearing when she walked in.

The dancing itself was quite beautiful. Again, I don't want to say too much. Maybe I have already. But it reminded me of a combination of Eritrean/Ethiopian shoulder dancing and belly dancing.


After the dancing was over, the men in the wedding party were invited in and this women completed the wedding ceremony. At this point, I was strongly encouraged to take pictures. And everyone else began crowding in around the couple to snap their own shots. I'm not entirely sure what was going on in the ceremony, but it did involve the use of a string/rope to bind the two young people to each other. The groom was also given a sword to hold. And as a young man who currently lives in England, and who had several of his English buddies there, he seemed highly entertained by the sword.

All and all, it was a good night. I only hope that I get to experience a similar cultural event again soon.