Thegumboot dance (or Isicathulo[1]) is a South Africandance that is performed by dancers wearingWellington boots. InSouth Africa these are more commonly calledgumboots.
The boots may be embellished with bells, so that they ring as the dancers stamp on the ground. This sound would be a code or a different calling to say something to another person a short distance away. This was used to communicate in the mines as there was strictly no talking otherwise there would be severe, drastic punishments at the discretion of their superior.[citation needed] The mines were very noisy workplaces, with pneumatic drills at work most of the time; in those days (until the mid 1970s)ear-defenders did not exist in South African mines.
Rooted back in the dark gold mine tunnels of South Africa, gumboot dancing has come full circle. Initially a codified tap used by black miners deprived of conversation, gumboot dancing today is one of the most expressive South African dance genres.[citation needed]
Gumboot dancers are commonly sighted on the streets and plazas of tourist areas inSouth Africa such as theVictoria & Alfred Waterfront inCape Town. Many of the steps and routines are parodies of the officers and guards who controlled the mines and barracks of South Africangold miners.[citation needed] Like other forms of African dance, Gumboot utilizes the concepts ofpolyrhythm and total body articulation, drawing from the cultural dances of the African workers that worked the mines.[2] It is apercussive dance made byidiophones or autophones (objects of the everyday life vibrating by themselves), and is similar in execution and style to forms of"stepping" done by African-Americanfraternities andsororities.
The dance is the highlight of the performance ofBlack Umfolosi, a prominent South Africanfolk group.[3]
The albumGraceland by the American pop singerPaul Simon has a song titled "Gumboots", which is performed in the style of South Africantownship jive (mbaqanga) and contains performances by members of theBoyoyo Boys.
The British-American composerDavid Bruce has written aclarinet quintet entitled "Gumboots",[4] which was inspired by Gumboot dancing. It was commissioned byCarnegie Hall in 2008 and can be heard in full on their website,[5] performed byTodd Palmer and theSt. Lawrence String Quartet.
Since a South-African student introduced gumboot to his classmates from all over the world atPearson College UWC, the international school has kept this tradition through the Gumboot Core Team – a group that trains the steps, learns about the culture, and keeps the respect for it alive on campus for over 45 years now. The group respects the origins of the dance and tries to be as authentic and educative as possible when performing. At the beginning of every year, around the months of March and April, the team is responsible for choreographing and performing at the One World festival, an annual concert inVictoria,BC.
Since the 1990s and 2000s,Drakensberg Boys' Choir School based at gumboot dancing the folk-African part of their repertoire and white gumboots are the part of the second variant of their concert costume (the first variant is a classical "white man's" costume).
In 2017, World of Step was established by Creative Director, Chuck Maldonado and Founder of Art of Stepping, Jessica 'Remo' Saul in direct response of preserve the historical component of gumboot dance to be shared to the mass.
