by Sr. Sheila Devane MMM                              Ireland                  03.05.2025     

Every winter from January to the end of March a ballroom dancing programme is aired on TV here in Ireland called “Dancing with the Stars.” I am an avid supporter as I enjoy ballroom dancing, live performance, spectacle, music, stage production, the commentary and all that makes for a glittering reality show of great talent and with a competition to boot!

In this programme twelve well known public personalities or “stars” volunteer to take part and each is matched with a professional ballroom dancer, some of international fame. The pro dancer teaches the star and the couples compete with each other every week until only four couples are left for the grand finale. No star should have ever taken any kind of dancing lessons before so we have actors, athletes, celebrity chefs, singers, news reporters, influencers, scientists and more all trying out their ballroom dancing skills for the first time.

For the first three weeks there are no eliminations so the couples each perform the particular dance they are assigned and are then graded by the four judges with the public also voting in to mark them.  Being an entertainment show, and not a formal dancing competition, it is the public vote that counts most but I always enjoy listening to the comments from the judges and especially from the crotchy one who usually gives the most relevant feedback.

The costumes, make-up, lighting, and sets are quite spectacular and each week there is a group dance by the pros that is riveting in both its skill and creative composition.  It is televised from our studio in Ardmore and not open to the public except for a small audience of people usually related to the stars such as their families.  My own interest is such that I managed to get a ticket to the second last show before it was closed down for Covid as I knew someone, who in turn knew someone who knew Dennis the chief cameraman!  So, I was there in person once and got to see it live and to witness too all the back-stage shenanigans.  What an event!

I usually vote and this year chose to support one of our Olympians, Jack Woolley, a taekwondo athlete; I admire his character and life. He comes from a very deprived area in Dublin and succeeded in representing Ireland admirably at the Paris’ Olympics. When he came home he was attacked and seriously injured in the city centre by a group of homophobic young men – all because he is gay; he showed immense courage in the manner in which he managed the situation, forgiving them publicly and now collaborating to improve their lives.  A powerful role model.

I allowed nothing interfere with this programme each Sunday evening but on the last night I was invited to a family meal.  I hoped everyone would eat quickly and that I would somehow manage to convince the hostess – who doesn’t follow this programme – that this was a “must see” event for me!  She had no problem and though she wasn’t watching she came over now and again to see how it was going.  When it was all over and the winner announced she said to me:… “this must remind you of the wonderful dancing you saw so often in Africa.”  She had visited West Africa herself while her daughter was on diplomatic mission there and had seen traditional dancing at various events.  She thought it was magnificent and asked me which particular dances I most remembered.

In this short conversation I quickly realised that “Dancing with the Stars” while superb, was second to the Turu dancing of the people of Singida, Tanzania.  Their rhythmic, full body movements, time keeping, and incredible ability to dance together as one were of another order and way beyond anything I ever saw in any show. They dance to a story of their culture and customs and each one embodies it so majestically that it is like a prayer.  My hostess was right I had seen the most amazing dancing in Africa by the great dancing stars of Singida called the Wanyturu.  Let me salute and thank them in their own language – Wajifya.

This is a uTube of their dancing     https://youtu.be/k3Kfqso6_Ng?si=pqbiF-lDYVd6DpNZ