JUST DANCE!

Scene: I am sitting at a funeral, dressed in all black when the music begins to play. I am bobbing my head and there are one or two people dancing but not very much. Across the center, sitting on the other set of chairs, is a woman. She too is wearing all black, and I see her motion to me. She moves her arms like she is dancing and motions for me to go up and dance. I hesitate at first but then get up out of my chair. As I walk towards the center, I motion for her to join me. She does. Smiling, we dance together for the song. The dance is simple:: just rocking back and forth between feet, arms bent in a ninety degree angle, occasionally waving our handkerchiefs in the air. After the song, we clasp hands as she escorts me back to my chair. I do not know this woman's name, I do not even know how she knows the deceased but I consider her my sister(and I know she considers me hers) because we danced together.

I originally came to Ghana expecting to learn all about traditional dancing and my real hope was to learn some of the dances myself. As most people find out, research seldom ends the way it began and I quickly found out that dancing in Wiamoase was scarce, and certainly wasn't being taught as I imagined it.

BUT I have had some sweet experiences with dancing, like the one listed above, where I have been able to bond with people across our language barriers, across our cultural barriers. So does dance unify in Ghana? YES IT DOES! It has a unifying power because you don't have to be of a certain tribe, or a certain clan to participate; because if two people are dancing together, they are celebrating or mourning together.