The cultural synergy

Kids watch the performers in awe. Ecstatic teenagers, young and old, sway to the rustic tune and singing of four South African musicians playing the marimba. The musical tones from these slabs of wood may have existed in various forms in the cultures of Africa, Latin America and Asia, yet, in Global Village, marimba comes alive, touching all cultures, races and creed.

Indian expatriate Mohammed Ahmed dances the night away in the presence of his kids and wife at the South African pavilion: “I love this tune. I cannot stop swaying my body. It is touching my soul,” he says stretching his arms back and forth.

Dza Nyonmo Dance Ensemble performing at World Cultural Stage at the Global Village. — KT photo by M. Sajjad

Tourist Andre Frenken from The Netherlands is more touched by the music. He sings intermittently with the performers and dances with his wife, Daatje, while watching the marimba performance: “Such a wonderful day to dance and hear the drumbeats and the wooden hits of these unique musical tones. We love it. It keeps us warm on this cold night,” Daatje says.

Guatemalan tourist Nery Manfredo, 45, says the performance is reminiscent of the festival in his country where marimba music completes the show: “Marimba is a national instrument and nothing is complete unless marimba music is played. Then the ecstatic charm fills the air, and the dancing begins,” he adds: “Our marimba originates in the highlands.”

The same ambience pervades the China pavilion. As the crowd watches the martial art performers of Shaolin, Chinese Kungfu, demonstrating their fast fighting styles on stage, lights keep on flashing as cameras are clicked by countless hands across the pavilion. Kids, who are positioned very near the pavilion stage, start mimicking the Kungfu movements. They kick and thrust their hands forward. A 10-year-old Egyptian boy, Ahmose, feels energetic thrusting his arms towards the stage: “I like this Kungfu. I want to be a Kungfu master,” he mumbles.

A stone’s throw from the China pavilion, the infectious entertainment fever is spreading all throughout the World Culture Stage. Dza Nyonmo Dance Ensemble from Ghana is equally stirring the hearts of the crowd with its fast dance tempo imbued in the beating of the drums.

An international dance group, which has performed before dignitaries and royalties including Queen Elizabeth II and the prime ministers of Brunei and Jamaica during their visits to Ghana, Dza Nyonmo Dance Ensemble has been well-known for 16 years for its highly expressive dance steps that are full of energy.

“This is our first time to perform in the UAE,” says 29-year-old dance assistant Mohammed Idrisi, who feels very proud to perform in Global Village with the group’s four drummers and five other dancers: “We are a traditional and contemporary dance group based in Accra. Since November 24, we have been dancing the Nigerian Raku, North Ghana’s Bambaya and other rich African dances in Global Village.”

Together with master drummer Jerry Dzokoto, its leader Edward Dogbe, has successfully choreographed such known dance pieces as The Son, an educational dance on the HIV Aids menace, Yaa Asantewa and Horse Tail in a highly successful collaboration with the Chiku Awali Dance Company from the United States.

The crowd continues to be dance feverish as Belarus Dance Group performs the famous Kalinka national dance and other celebratory and romantic national dances from Russia and Belarus. Filipino expatriate Rosita Silva says that she feels like dancing with them on the stage as the sweet tune and slow motion dances make her remember similar Philippine dance steps: “I feel like being ushered back to my country. I love their dances, and the colourful costumes make them resemble the feathers of a flying bird.”

Belarus, which performs in the UAE and the Middle East for the first time, has toured around Europe and more than 20 other countries: “In our country, all our 90 dancers will present to the accompaniment of our own 30-man orchestra,” says 33-year-old Fedor, one of the eight dancers performing at the Global Village.

At the open area, the Lion Dance excites everyone, and the Global Village Parade of Nations elicits one’s interest to go through the thick crowd to see whether his country is in. Led by the UAE, the Parade of Nations witnesses the flags of Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Morocco, Turkey, Greece, India, Pakistan, Africa, South Africa, Brazil, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan, Yemen, and China waving proudly in the cold air as their contingents dressed in their traditional costumes march around: “Dad, there is the Palestinian flag,” says seven-year-old Ahmed Al Hijazi to his father Farouq, with a faint smile of recognition painted on his face.

From 5.20pm onwards until the cultural curtains of the World Culture Stage, Community Stage and the 37 pavilions close at 11.30pm daily, the cultural dancers depicting the different cultures from Southeast Asia, Sub-Asian continents, South America, the Middle East, Europe and Africa come alive in the different pavilions, intensifying the eagerness and excitement and rolling the heartbeats of all families, residents and tourists.

lily@khaleejtimes.com