Batalo: Ugandan festival out to bridge gender gap

In a fully parked Ndere centre auditorium, lights go off and the sound of musician Shifah Musisi’s song, Ebirowoozo, plays. When the lights are switched back on, albeit dimly, a teenager in an improvised wedding dress, and a young man, execute contemporary dance moves.

Their moves mirror a silent disagreement of a stressed young couple with pain deep rooted in their hearts as an emotional sound bed plays to helpless dance moves.

Full lights appear and it turns out that the teenage girl in the improvised wedding dress appears pregnant. The sound finds another gear as what appears to be family members dance in celebration.
Then the pregnant teenager is placed on what looks like a bridal throne. As scenes unfold, it appears that the teenager gives birth to twin babies and the man runs away but her family is dancing to protect sugar, which is literally the bride price. 

Towards the climax, the twins, who appear to be a boy and girl, push to change their destiny as the boy protects the sister from rapists and those interested in marrying her at an early age.

All of this is packed into a dance piece dubbed Sukaali. Choreographed by celebrated dancer Elvis Elasu, the piece mirrors the dangers of early marriages and how the boy child can mitigate the threats they pose.
Sukaali, which is a theatre dance piece performed by the Street Dance Force Uganda, tells a story of the pangs of bride price and early marriages through dance.

Close to Sukaali is Fundo, a dance piece choreographed by Gavin Musimenta and Vivian Nassali. Fundo is a Swahili word meaning knot. The dance piece is basically about an African ritual, traditional, marital, secretary, fashion and at the same time takes life controls and enslaves. But if you ever reach the end of your rope, tie in its knot and hang on there.
Fundo mirrors a wide range of issues and life struggles that married couples go through and the sacrifices that people make to make things work.

Prominent among all is celebrated dancer Lillian Maximillian Nabaggala, who has represented Uganda at the global scale. Nabaggala’s dance production dubbed Nambi showcased at Batalo festival as a work in progress, and has since evolved into an all-girls short film addressing the gender gap.
Her dance theatre production uses traditional Ugandan dances fused with urban and contemporary music to portray African female leaders’ contributions to society.

Nabaggala mentions that her production reflects on ancient female warriors, army chiefs, and entrepreneurs such as Ya Asnataawa, Nzinga of Angola, Ahosi Mino, and Queen Sheba.
Nabaggala’s success has attracted a number of girls into dance production. One of them, Joan Nambalirwa, a popular performer at Batalo dance festival, has started her own festival.

Abdul Kinyenya Muyingo, the proprietor of Batalo East Dance company, the organisers of Batalo Festival, disclosed that management of the festival is primarily in the hands of girls. This, he added, is intentional.
“Dance is a powerful form of self-expression and it can help people to mitigate issues in communities and communicate emotion non-verbally,” he explained, adding, “We decided to contribute to the gender debate by involving the girls to help them echo narratives for social change, particularly in the area of gender equality.”

Now in its ninth edition, the free community Batalo East Dance Festival will on December 16 unveil the Batalo East Creative Centre in Kachonga, Bufujja, Butaleja District. The festival will showcase performances from diverse regions, featuring traditional, contemporary, and urban dances, along with local talent from Butaleja’s youth community.
Kinyenya notes that besides gender-leaning issues, the festival is focused on addressing a couple of issues of societal benefits.
“Our Batalo East Creative Centre […] will serve as a hub for talent development, cultural preservation, intergenerational dialogue, and social and economic growth through performing arts for Butaleja’s youth,” he disclosed.

Established in 2013 by a group of young creatives together with arts and cultural managers, the festival has for years strived to create opportunities for the youth through dance. 
Kinyenya explains that this has been done alongside preserving traditional African culture, and providing safe spaces for creativity and innovation in arts, science, and community engagement.