Despite Hardship, Uganda Kids Share Joyful Dance - Brief Article

Dance Magazine, June, 2000 by Wendy Perron

ONE OF THE happiest occasions of the performance season has been the Children of Uganda/Tour of Light 2000. Eighteen singers and dancers, all of whom have lost one or both parents to AIDS, other diseases or war, stopped at Symphony Space to warm the hearts of a diverse audience on New York's Upper West Side. Wearing brightly colored and stylish costumes, they let their joy pour forth from the stage and spill over into the audience.

The children, who range in age from 4 to 18, are from the Daughters of Charity Orphanage in Uganda. In a country with high rates of AIDS and illiteracy, and an only recently established public education system, the orphanage serves social, educational and cultural purposes. The Children of Uganda travel throughout their country to perform at weddings, births and other events, celebrating the rich heritage of their ancestors. This tour, presented as part of the Kennedy Center African Odyssey, is their fifth to the United States.

The children are led by the effervescent and witty choreographer Frank Katoola, who teaches them traditional dances and songs at home in Kampala. Eighteen out of the 470 children at the orphanage are selected for their talent, attitude and spirit to join this professional group. Katoola also teaches the audience about the dances.

A dance from the Bugandan people celebrates bananas, which are used for food, medicine and umbrellas. Another dance, called Gaze (which Katoola translates as "Feel like yourself"), features movements that look like the antecedents to swing, hip-hop and hula-hooping. In a dance that praises the long-horned cows of Ankole and Rwanda, we hear the call and response between the music and the children's voices.

Another dance is both a prayer and an attempt at justice. Katoola explains that after hearing the insistent drumming, a person who has committed an injustice admits his wrongdoing. But the drummers here have fun. About five boys, some of them smaller than their drums, click sticks with each other, hop around between beats, and drum on each other's drums. The fullness of the sound of the drums and the lightness of the harp strings are reflected in the polyrhythmic dancing.

Katoola, who learned to dance and play harp and xylophone at a young age, adapts authentic ritual dance steps for the stage, and is inspired by the children's energy. The difference between the eastern and western African forms, he explained, is that the latter is more even rhythmically, usually in 2/4 time and occasionally in 6/8. But East African dances, which include Ugandan dances, can be in 5/8 and have more variation in timing.

For the youngest children, the first trip West can be frightening. Alexis Hefley, who organized the tour, recalls that at Heathrow Airport in London, a child who was walking behind her suddenly screamed, stiffened her legs and refused to continue when they reached an escalator. Twelve of the eighteen children are making the trip for the second time.

Does Emmanuel Anguyo, 15, ever feel tired from the constant traveling and performing? "Only if we do more than four shows a day," he said. Emmanuel wants to be an engineer as well as a performer. Another dancer, Sarah Namatovu, 15, says that Gaze is her favorite dance because in it, "animals make sounds and act like people." She wants to be an actress when she gets older. "I love sharing my culture and my love with Americans."

It's hard to imagine that the children, who have faced tragic losses, could appear so happy, but, Katoola said, "In the African way of life, the village is cohesive. When someone loses a parent, there is still somebody that you can call mother. Some of the children call me father." Katoola himself cares for five children not his own.

Katoola knows from previous tours that exposure to the West gives the children confidence. When they return home, they know they have helped the other children. "Because of this tour, the children of the orphanage will have food and education for the next two years," he said. "The children are proud of their contribution, and they have more responsibility and awareness." The tour has brought the children to New York, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Santa Barbara, California, and other cities.