That was so this last weekend when the Chinyakare Ensemble Zimbabwe Dancers performed at the Bret Harte Theater presented by the Calaveras Arts Council on February 24, 2013.
Julia Tsitsi Chigamba, the creator of the Tawanda muChinyakare Ensemble, gently told the audience the meaning behind each dance performed. Tawanda muChinyakare means "deep traditional in the arts of our ancestors." Julia had danced all these dances as a child and had grown up knowing innately what each dance was for, but didn't realize the depth of the menaings until she came to America and tried to explain the dances. It was then that she realized she wanted to share her culture and her dance with as many people as possible, to touch lives with her dance.
Dances in her culture were performed when a child was born, when an elder passed, to bless the seeds and the earth before planting and to put the earth to rest in the winter. To be thankful for water and for each gift each day brings, that we are all interconnected, we are all family.
