Winners of the 2017 Chibuku Neshamwari traditional dance festival, Ezimnyama Dance Group have attributed their success to hard work and team spirit saying their loss in 2015 was a turning point.
The Bulawayo based outfit shrugged off stiff competition from 10 other groups to emerge winners and walked away $7000 richer plus a recording contract.
Runners up, Culture Warriors from Harare walked away $5000 richer while How Mine Chioda from the Midlands took away $3000.
In an interview with 263Chat, the leader of Ezimnyama, Phibion Ncube said hard work and team spirit was the secret weapon behind their crown.
“it’s not our first time here, we were here in 2015 and we lost and we went back and did enough research on the dance and conducted some workshops, we looked for someone who know it better than us, so we have been rewarded. We are very happy with the results today” said Ncube.
Zimbabwe National Traditional Dancers Association president, Kennedy Kachuruka was pleased with type of dance displays at this year’s Chibuku Neshamwari finals.
“I am very happy with the type of dances that were showcased today because they displayed a lot of different dances unlike last year we had four groups dancing the same dance, this is showing the growth of our cultural dances” he said.
Ezimnyama showcased a Stwana dance which is believed to have originated in Matabeleland South and later taken to Bostwana where it assumed the name Stwana.
