or: Dancing in Mauritius

I am convinced that most, if not all, Mauritian people know how to dance. Even those that say they can’t dance, they can dance. And dance well. Well, they can in my opinion anyway.

Yes, this is a broad and sweeping generalisation and it’s based purely on what I’ve seen which may or may not be a truly representative sample. With that caveat in place, read on.

I have attended a few different occasions now where I have been able to witness the rhythm of some of the local population. The most recent one was a 50th birthday party last night.

At this party, there were professional dancers and a band who did the traditional Mauritian dance – the Sega –  before many of the guests were then on their feet dancing continuously for the next few hours.

While I don’t have a clue what the lyrics mean, since the songs are in Creole, the melody and beats are enjoyable in themselves. I particularly enjoyed one of the singers’ voice last night, probably because it was so deep and reminded me of some African music I also enjoy.

Anyway, this post is meant to be about the dancing not the music. There could be another post about that. Particularly since the band always has a triangle in it and not one of those little triangles we played in kindergarten. A hardcore triangle that helps keep the beat and sounds impressive. That is not a sentence I ever though I would write about a triangle.

I digress… again…

It doesn’t matter if you’re with a partner or who that partner is, with family or friends, same sex or different, most are on their feet moving their hips in a way that I am in awe. I didn’t even know it was possible to move like this! It is like the hips have a mind of their own. The nearest is the hip movement of the hula dancers of Hawaii but that doesn’t do this one justice. This is fast and it is slow, it is languid and yet jaunty, sexy yet sexless. It is a move of contrasts depending on the song being played and how the rest of the body is moving. Very impressive.

I am in awe of this movement.

The dancing starts young too.

There were children of all ages at this party and they were on the dance floor too. Some dancing with each other. I’m guessing they were about three years old though I am a hopeless judge of age and they could be as old as six and as young as two… Others were in the arms of one of their parents, grandparents, older siblings or friends, all being encouraged to move with the music. Yet still a few more were on the floor with these same people and being twirled around, already moving their hips, able to mimic those showing them.

If this is the case for all parties and musical gatherings, it wouldn’t be surprising if most people can dance really well by the time they reach adulthood.

Everyone has a good time as sweat soaks through cotton shirts and possibly explains why the traditional Sega outfits contain more material in the skirts rather than the shirts – these tend to be fairly skimpy in comparison

My other samples include a beach barbecue on my last visit where everyone ended up dancing. No children at this one though it seems all the adults had been dancing most of their lives.

I’ve also been to a club a couple of times where a band plays. This one attracts quite a few tourists too. It would be expected that people going to a club are, more than likely, able to dance so I’m not really including this group in my sample as I think that unfairly skews the data for my very technical experiment.

I’ve been at another casual gathering at the beach where we’ve all been sitting around chatting over a few beverages and gadiak where there was a two-year-old girl. I know her age as it was discussed. A guitar appeared, singing started and she was then ‘dancing’ in her father’s arms, switched to her mother’s, then her aunty’s before being placed on the ground with her father again and dancing with him. Her hip movements were even more pronounced through the bulkiness of her nappy. Not quite there yet but well on their way.

In the same spirit as understanding whether cream or jam should go first on a scone, my experiment will continue. At the very least, the dancing is fantastic to watch and the music is great to listen to.

* Thanks to Snap! for the title to this post.