The Sunday News
Peter Matika, Senior Life Reporter
AFTER bagging the grand $7 000 prize at the recently ended 54th edition of the Chibuku Neshamwari traditional Dance competition, could Ezimnyama Dance Ensemble be the next generation of an arts group monopoly to become every household’s favourite?
Predecessors such as Iyasa and Siyaya did so in their time and perhaps have lately taken a back seat in the sector.
Formed in 2009 by young and talented artistes from Bulawayo, this was the group’s second appearance at the Chibuku Neshamwari competition. Their debut was in 2015 but failed to make an impression.
Ultimately forced to go back to the drawing board the group adopted the Setapa dance, which originates in Botswana. Like their predecessors — multi award winning Iyasa who shot to fame after featuring in Chase Skuza’s hit song and video Banolila, Ezimnyama won the hearts of many with their polished act and popular Setapa dance.
“We had to go back to the drawing board. Our aim is to be the next generation of the arts and it is a big achievement for us as a group to be acknowledged as that. When we started we had a dream of becoming one of the best dance ensembles in the country . . . things were difficult at the beginning, we had challenges here and there but now things are beginning to turn around positively,” said the director of the group Phibion Ncube.
He said they adopted the dance when they performed with a Botswana group in Plumtree a while back.
“We performed with a group from Botswana when we were performing in Plumtree where we were invited by the deputy minister of Home Affairs Obedingwa Mnguni. So we exchanged words and dances and music during the performance and we fell in love with the dance,” said Ncube.
Now destined for the stars, he said their first international performance would be in Egypt.
“We will be traveling to Egypt in November and will be there for two weeks. We are working on our visas at the moment. We will be performing at a festival called Afro Chinese Folklore Arts Festival. We are looking forward to exchanging our culture with Egyptians and also to learn other cultures,” he said.
Ncube said they would adopt some of their predecessors systems and concepts in their journey to get to the top.
“We are looking forward to having exchange programmes with other arts institutes across the globe and also teaching and learning from other players.
We are going to invest in a way which is going to develop the group to the next level,” he said.
Ezimnyama has received a few nominations since its formation, namely the National Arts Merits Awards and the Bulawayo Arts Awards. One of their dancers, Dadirai Mupandawana also won an award for being the best female dancer.
