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The Rest of that Special Day: The Native Dances at Bomas of Kenya

May 31, 2010 By Guy St. Clair

One of the big attractions at the Bomas of Kenya is the spectacular dance programme, and it’s hard to convey, in just a few photographs (which you can see at Dances Based on Native Dances of Kenya), the excitement and the enthusiasm of the dancers in this show.

For one thing, it’s in a huge space, and it’s a little daunting to be there right now, in the tourist off-season, because this great hall, which seats some 2,000 people, had only a couple of hundred spectators (hence the many empty seats in the photos).

Not that the lack of a sizable audience was any deterrent to the dancers. They were there to put on a show and they’re all serious professionals, so the smiles were right there, the jumps were all as high as they could be (they couldn’t have been any higher!), and their enthusiasm for the performance was thrilling for us in the audience).

But one can’t help but wonder what the enthusiasm level might be with a full house!

I couldn’t follow the structure of the show (the narration – in English – was just hard to understand, since there was a great echo from the speakers) but I gather it was supposed to depict the kind of dancing done by tribes in different regions of the country. I did get that the first number was based on dances at the coast, which would make sense since the men wore the fez-like hats. The style was almost always native-focused, but it was apparent that some serious choreography had been employed – and very well done at that. So the dancing just kept moving, and I began to wonder just where the dancers get all their energy. I was able to figure it out, though, as we moved into the second act, for I began to realize that there seemed to be two groups of dancers, which made a lot of sense, since they were moving so much and with so much energy when they were on stage. They would obviously have to spell one another.

Highlights? Far too many to try to list here, but the second group – they guys with the long wooden drums – were pretty spectacular. And one can’t say enough about the acrobats in the second act. Breath-taking, spectacular, mind-boggling – all those adjectives that come into play when one is watch a really talented grup of acrobats! Just fabulous. The native dances and dancers at the Bomas of Kenya should be on every visitor’s list of things to see.

Filed Under: Travel Tagged With: Kenya - Bomas of Kenya, Kenya - Native Dances

Guy St. Clair is the Series Editor for Knowledge Services, from Verlag Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin, the scholarly publishing house specializing in academic literature. The series subject is knowledge services, the approach to managing intellectual capital that merges information management, knowledge management (KM), and learning, presenting and discussing new and innovative approaches to knowledge sharing in all fields of work.

In Sharing Guy’s Journey,  Guy writes about any subject that crosses his mind (some friends refer to the blog as “Guy’s online journal”). Subjects covered usually include those displayed at the top of each post (personal history, history, art & architecture, music, nature, and travel), but other topics come up as well.

His books, usually about professional topics, are listed in SMR International’s corporate website, at SMRShare. One of these – Knowledge Services: A Strategic Framework for the 21st Century Organization (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2016) – is an Open Access title. The free PDF version of this book is at: https://bit.ly/3msI27V.

Guy is also the author of Knowledge Services: Five Free Webinars from Guy St. Clair, available to anyone who wants to learn more about knowledge services, Guy’s professional and academic specialty. The webinars are offered at no charge.

Guy’s other professional writings are listed in SMR International’s corporate website, at SMRShare. 

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