The excitement at the annual Ghana Dance Festival went up a few notches on Saturday evening as troupes from different communities took centre stage at the Accra Mall.
The event which draws participants from across the country, is a platform to display Ghana’s cultural heritage while promoting the country as a safe, warm, business and tourism destination.
Woshishije and Shidaa performers particularly thrilled the audience at the full capacity venue, with each unique performance exciting the boisterous crowd in different ways.
Over a decade ago when we heard that a group or performers are coming up with traditional acrobatic dances that included fire swirls, we were just not ready until we witnessed the great performances displayed by the troupes that is considered as a ‘mother and daughter’ entity –Woshishije and Shidaa cultural groups.
Woshishije is known for its Ghanaian Traditional dances like Atsiagbekor, Fumefume, Kpanlogo dance and energetic drumming within the Ga Traditional areas. The group is also known for artistic display of other traditional dances such as Bawa, Bamaya, Takai, all from the Northern part of Ghana.
With over 18 trained and matured drummers and dances with skills to educate through dance and demonstrations on several social issues, Woshihije and Shidaa always teams up to provide massive performances where acrobatics and other fire swirls are needed.
The unique feature about this is how over 30 performers utilise the stage and are able to climb on each other and build a hierarchy and still be stable on the ground.
Members like Hene Agyare, Ernest Obeng, Marquaye and others always express excitement whiles carrying hundreds of pounds of human beings on their shoulders.
Woshishije believes that culture is an essential dimension of development in every individual life and therefore, development solutions should be tailored to locally relevant traditions.
