| dc.description.abstract | Traditional dances of the South Sotho of Qwaqwa were studied as a product
of culture. The two major objectives were: to document, and analyse
specific South Sotho dances and relate them holistically to the culture;
and to determine which dances of the girls and the women would be
suitable for inclusion in the Syllabus for Physical Education for Girls
in the Republic of South Africa according to certain educational
criteria.
The aspects investigated in the study included the following:
1. An ethnographic image of the South Sotho relating to
ancestry, way of life and culture;
2. Dance as a cultural phenomenon and the place and function of
dance in the culture of the South Sotho;
3. The notation of selected dances, an analysis of the dance
movements and choreographic structure of the dances;
4. The educational value of folk and ethnic dances for implementation
in the physical education programme, according to relevant
objectives.
The techniques used to identify, classify, document and analyse the
dances, included fieldwork done through personal observation, participating
observation, video filming of the dances, sound recordings of the songs
and personal interviews. The sequence of steps was notated descriptively
and graphically. The movements of the free body segments and dance
technique were described and the floor pattern of each step sequence, the
information with the accompaniment and the floor plan of the dance were
transcribed graphically. The number of repetitions of the step
sequences and the order of the parts of the dances were notated according
to counts.
The following dances were identified: women's dances - mokgibo,
moqoqopelo, ledingwana, thojane, timiti and famu; girls' dances -
mokgibo, play dances, ndlamu and bale dances; men's dances - mohobelo,
mokorotlo, diphotha and setapo; boys dance the same dances apart
from the mokorotlo. Wedding dances and thojane are also danced
together by both sexes. The four dances which were documented
include the wedding dance Ausi o manele, a play dance (Tikwe ha
malome), ledingwana-women's dance (Diponono ha kena basadi) and
mogogopelo women's dance (Ke lelekuwe bohadi).
The main findings of the study indicated that dance is still
closely interlinked with the cultural life of the South Sotho and
that the purpose of the dance manifests itself mainly in terms of
social recreation. Specific dances of the South Sotho can be
utilized in a meaningful way in the physical education programme for
girls because of the educational value, the link with the cultural
objectives of the folk dance section of the syllabus and the relevance
to the present needs of society. | en_US |
