It is a very big part of being connected to your tribal roots and community. Even at professional meetings or conferences, they will periodically have all of the attendees stand up and dance to some African drumming and music.
(Side note: if the meeting involves the presidential party, all of the women dress in specific clothes that have the picture of the president’s face on it! It caught me off guard at first, but that is just part of what the presidential party requires if you want to attend those events. They had one such meeting at our school last week, and it actually created a lot of chaos. They decided to hold this meeting right in the center of our school grounds, complete with the loud music, DJ, dancing, and food, while the students were still in class! It made me laugh because the meeting wasn’t even about the education system; it was about women’s rights in Malawi in general. It was very disruptive to the class. No one was able to focus with the semi truck outside honking the horns every 30 seconds and the DJ blasting music on the speakers 20 feet from the classrooms, which have open windows!) They were discussing issues for women in Malawi but much of that ended up just being dancing, playing music, and eating food. This is part of the culture and how meetings are ran in the country.
Everyone here knows how to dance and I am always impressed. Even the little ones will start dancing when the right music starts playing. It is how they express themselves and it really brings them a lot of joy. I have compiled a few different videos of this dancing so that you can get a glimpse of what I am describing. I hope you enjoy it!
