About
Set in the transcendent dance culture of Africa’s San First Peoples, SanDance! celebrates humanity’s original essence of dance.
This enchanting film follows San dancers from rehearsals in remote villages in Namibia, South Africa and Botswana to their electrifying performances at the Kuru San Dance Festival in Botswana. Held on full moon, the festival draws San dancers and musicians from across southern Africa to the largest annual gathering of San peoples. The film expresses the hopes and dreams of San dancers as they strive to revitalize their beautiful dance traditions, which are threatened by ongoing marginalization of the San’s fragile hunter-gatherer culture.
Radiating from the Kuru San Dance Festival into the visionary world of the trance-healing dance, SanDance! illuminates the spiritual traditions that underpin ancestral San culture across southern Africa.
Proceeds from SanDance! directly benefit the KDT, and the dance groups featured in this film.
Reviews
“The film’s immersion into Southern Africa’s indigenous cultures touches on a wide berth of subjects including ancient history, recent history, colonialism, genocide, dance, language, subsistence, ecology, and philosophy. Because of its shorter runtime and mass of content, SanDance! will easily fit into many curricula.” – Frank Gunderson, Yearbook of Traditional Music
“SanDance! is billed as a journey to the heart of Africa’s original dance culture, but it’s much more than that. It opens a door into a segment of African culture that is in danger of dying out... Richard Wicksteed has spent decades filming and working with the San, making at least 10 films of varying length. The level of acceptance and their trust in him is clear from this sensitive and well-paced portrayal of an important culture under threat... I watched [the film] more than once, and still want to watch it again. For the dance. For the music. For the story. For the pleasure.” – Michael Britton, Music in Africa
Indigenous Studies:
Regions:
Credits
SanDance! A Journey to the Heart of Africa’s Original Dance Culture
Written & Directed by
Richard Wicksteed
Associate Producers
Tim Gabb
Jonathan Cornelius
Producers
Edwin Angless
Richard Wicksteed
Executive Producers
Nico Dekker
Mangana Mangana
Jamie Walker
Xukuri Xukuri
Directors of Photography & Post Production
Timothy Gabb
Jonathan Cornelius
Additional Camera
Richard Kille
Francesco Maria Morotti
Richard Wicksteed
360º Camera
Kevin Rack
Shaun Wilson
Animation, Titles, Graphics, Maps
Alex Noble
Colourist/Grading
David Grant
The Refinery, Cape Town
Featured San Dance Groups
In order of appearance
ǂAmkurikxui group, Khwai, Botswana
Die Nuwe Graskoue Trappers, Cederberg, South Africa
Buga-Khwe group, Khwai, Botswana
Gǂoahn|om group, Nyae Nyae, Namibia
//Xa /oba group, Nyae Nyae, Namibia
Xuu-Khwe-|I group, Mababe, Botswana
Rabbit group, Dqae Qare, Botswana
Giraffe group, Dqae Qare, Botswana