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A delicate balancing act

Lumumba Theatre’s Ahmed Dadi (first left) together with his colleagues Isack Peter (first right) Mwasiti Husseni (left at the back) and Asmath Shida go through the steps for one of the dance pieces. (Photo by Iman Mani)

IF there is one thing Isack Peter is very proud it is the fact that he is a member of Lumumba Theatre and executes his duties as the Information Officer of the group with love. 

‘Star’ got a peek of their work, during the week, at the Russian Cultural Centre in Dar es Salaam. The dance group was preparing for their show to be held last Friday at Mlimani
City, and for the Bagamoyo Arts Festival next month.

The group is expected to perform in October’s during the Visa2Dance event in the city and at a festival in Rwanda next November. With such a tight schedule at all the 12 members agreed to practice during the Holy month of Ramadan with adjustments here and there.

Isack recently returned from a visit to Germany, Holland and Spain, to conduct performances, undertake research and training. The trip was sponsored by the Goethe Institut in Dar es Salaam.

The new schedules meant that rehearsals at the cultural centre started at nine o’clock in the morning and went on until two or three in the afternoon as opposed to practicing between eight o’clock in the mornings and five o’clock in the afternoons.

“Despite the adjustments the level of creativity dropped slightly. This is understandable because you have nothing in your stomach and dancing is very physical and takes up a lot of energy. Your stomach is the centre of the body, which is used to push everything,” he explained.

Isack, who is a Christian, admits that the experience tests the faith of all of them. He fasted in solidarity saying it helped build team spirit. One of the ladies in the group, Asmath Shida, told the ‘Star’ even if she had opted to stay at home all she would have done is sleep, which would have been counterproductive.

She now realises that the Holy month of Ramadhan, should not stop her from working. Asmath said, “Rehearsing during this period is a challenge. Having to go through our exercises and rehearsals can be really strenuous physically as you use up all the fuel in your body.

Your throat dries up so you forced to take a break in between the exercises to get your breath back only to hear the leader tell you stand-up, let’s continue,” she said. To some extent Asmath said she is used to it because while in college the routine was the same.

One of her colleagues, Mwasiti Husseni is very pleased to see this year she has been able to complete the full month without giving up on the fasting and dancing as she had done in the past. Muhaza Mwalimu, another member of the group said rehearsing during the Holy Month was indeed a challenge.

He recognises that work has to go on during the fasting period. Ahmed Dadi another member of the group said he resorted pouring water over his head or taking a shower to reduce the physical pressure.