1. This is the only royal dance of the Acholi tribe, which is performed with great respect and dignity. Bwola is the only dance on the globe where every male has a drum; small, medium or big.

2. A group of elderly people performs it during the time of crowning the chief and then when he dies. It is also performed to entertain important personnel on big occasions.

3. Bwola dance is performed using some costumes and props like drums, headgears, arm-lets, jingles, and the plaited skirts and the beads worn by both male and female dancers.

4. The biggest royal drum for Bwola is highly respected .No one plays apart from the person who is entitled to and no one sits on it because if you are a man and you sit on, then you develop impotence as a result.

5. However, it is now days performed even during the music festivals at schools and other institutions by the young ones for cultural preservation.

6. FORMATION: This dance is mainly performed in linear and circular form.

1. A BRIF HISTORICAL BACK GROUND

This is one of the Acholi courtship dances. It was developed from a courtship dance called “Akel” a long time ago.

This dance is performed by the youths who are looking for their marriage partners .It is performed from evening up to midnight in the moon light by both the girls and the boys.

2. COSTUMES

Male dancers put on plaited skirts or pairs of shorts, vests / T-shirts, beads, headgears and a well-designed metal is on the buttocks for exaggerating the movement "Odyer". Other notable costumes include; calabashes, a bunch of spokes, drums, and horns that are used to drive the dancers.

Female dancers put on beads around their waists, jingles and plaited skirts.

During the dance, it is the boy’s skill that attracts the female dancers to make a choice.

3. FORMATION

This dance is performed in circle, semi-circle and linear formations.

1. This is one of the courtship dances, which is performed by young girls who are still very active, agile and flexible because it is a very vigorous dance that needs energy. The girls are accompanied by boys who are drummers and flute blowers in order to drive the dancers.

2. After the performance of the dance, the youth can now begin to approach one another for love that is why it is grouped among the courtship dances. It was developed from Lara karaka dance.

3. FORMATION

This dance involves many formations such as linear, semi-circular, circular, serpentine and mass formation. It is a dance that has varied and dynamic formations.

The dance can also form letters like: A, C, H, O, L, I etc.

1. This is a war dance, which is performed to train the male youths during tribal protection and instils courage in the men when going to fight and during actual fighting (Tribal conflicts that took place long ago according to Acholi History).

2. It is a trooping dance with women as instigators. During the dance, male put on leopard skins on their back and headgears on their heads, while holding spears and shields in their hands.

1. This is a dance mostly for the newly married couples. The songs sung during performance are mostly love songs, showing their commitment in marriage.

The dance has varied and dynamic formations.

1. Both women and men perform this dance for enjoyments .It is also danced at a marriage ceremony for entertaining the married couples and to revive broken marriages.

2. Nanga (Zither) is a seven stringed African traditional musical instrument played by a man and a calabash which is brushed to keep the rhythm.

3. COSTUMES

Zither, calabash, Jingles, beads, whistle, the plaited skirts, and a modelled piece of wood inform of an axe used by men.

4. FORMATION

There are many formations that can be employed in the dance but the most common one according to the Acholi culture is linear, parallel, and rectangular with varied movements.

This is an Acholi traditional folk song that depicts how a wife and her husband were reconciled after a family dispute. It is sung in African traditional harmony to bring out the natural flavour.

1. This is one of the Acholi’s traditional dances that involves singing and dancing while very skilful boys and girls are playing the instruments.

2. It begins with a matching song called "Omera pe Ipar", played in ternary form and then comes,"Ajulina".

3. Ajulina was a very beautiful girl at that time and almost every male youth in that village wanted to marry her, and because of her beautiful body, the boys were rivaling over her and they complained of sleepless nights in order to lay strategies to win her favor.

NB: It should be noted that all the above dances have different dancing techniques, formations and levels.

LIFE IN IDP CAMPS
Where most of these dancers lived and grew up!
There were similar CAMPS: IDP
(Intenally Displaced People's)
There were many hosting 2 million people. eg PABO CAMP had nearly 60,000 people!
In Northern Uganda since around 1985 till 2010!
Watch the VIDEO  on TRIBUTE to people born and bred in the CAMP:

ACHOLI  HEARTBEAT AT THE NATIONAL THEATRE KAMPALA