By Grace Rai

When the first European missionaries came to Africa, they condemned traditional dances as heathen and forbid anyone they converted from associating with ‘dances of darkness’.

If they rose from the grave today, they would be shocked to learn that the suggestive gyrating of waist and hips practised by Ohangla dancers, the vigorous shaking of shoulders synonymous with Nyatiti dancers, and the ‘ndombolo ya Yesu’ dance step are common in many places of worship today.

And these dances no longer take place in the dark or in the moonlight but in broad daylight during scheduled church services.

Indeed, dances that were traditionally performed at funerals, beer-drinking sessions, during exorcising of evil spirits and general entertainment have taken over from the solemn Christian hymns accompanied by the piano, flute and tambourines.

Now the kayamba, the kambanane, drums, Ongeng, Oporo, Abu and the Orutu are the in thing. While it is easy to condemn some of these dances as non-spiritual and lacking in Christian tradition of worshipping God in silence, a deeper look at some of the dances reveals that they have such deep spiritual inclinations and pass on such serious messages to the congregation that they cannot be taken for granted.

‘The dances are not mere entertainment as alleged in some Christian quarters," says Isaiah Odhiambo, the 54-year-old chairman of Mikayi Nomiya Luo Sabato Church in Nyanza. "They are a sign that the dancer has been fully possessed by the power of the Holy Spirit and is about to reveal some of the sins being done in secret by some in the congregation."

Odhiambo says the vigorous shaking of shoulders, known as otenga, only occurs at the height of mass when some in the congregation start trembling in fear of God’s public revelation of their sins.

"The dancer may reveal that one of the church members has been taking busaa secretly or committing adultery," he says.

Nick Tolo, 27, a member of Nomiya Luo Mission Church in Asembo, Nyanza concurs with Odhiambo. He says Luo Mission members hold otenga in high esteem.

"It is not just a dance of joy but it also wards off evil spirits and keeps the children clean," Tolo says.

Otenga is also an important part of funeral services as the more vigorously the believer shakes the shoulders, the faster the devil flees from the vicinity.

Programmes such as The Stomp shown on local television stations involve some highly seductive dances formerly associated with the ‘twin dance’ practised in some Kenyan communities.

Stark naked

In certain traditional communities, twins were considered a bad omen. In West African societies, they left in the forest for hyenas to feed on. If lucky, the twins would be saved by a childless woman who would hide them and bring them up.

In some parts of Nyanza, women who had twins were locked up in a hut and made to dance the twin dance stark naked. The women danced by vigorously gyrating the waist and hips to exorcise the evil spirits associated with the birth of twins.

An elderly woman played the ajawa in a secret dance that took place from midnight to dawn. Today, some of the dances witnessed in charismatic churches allow these dances.

A member of the Pentecostal Church says that some people tend to misunderstand the twin dance and associate it with untoward behaviour. "Some allege that we are only trying to release stress while some people claim that we are out to seduce other worshippers.

This is not true," she says. "We dance to praise the Lord. Why dance at a bar when I am drunk when I can be drunk with the power of the Holy Spirit and perform the same dance for my Lord and saviour?"

But a born-again member of the East African Revival Church, Gladwell Andere, dismisses the traditional dances as heathen.

"Members of our revival group who participate in any form of dancing including joining church choirs are suspended from fellowship. Why would a born-again Christian dance?"