Coming to Uganda, there was only one part of the program that I was really dreading: the performance. I don't particularly like getting up on stage in front of people and the thought of learning a completely foreign performance genre did not sound exciting. Our group was informed that we would be doing a performance--singing, dancing, and a short play--to educate the community about the importance of sanitation. In theory, I really like the idea of performance for development, a technique in which important public health information is conveyed through a popular recreational outlet. But, if it had been up to me, I would not have been one of the people to actually get up and perform. Unfortunately, that was part of the program I signed up for.
For the past two weeks we've had training sessions to learn the two songs, the dance routine, and our individual parts in the play. I hate to say this, but it was my least favorite part of the day. Since I wasn't really interested in the performance, I felt like I could have been using the time to do something that was more valuable to me. I will admit, perhaps I was too quick to judge and didn't give the performance a chance. Regardless, it was a long two weeks of rehearsals that I kept wishing would end. This past weekend, it was finally time to do the real performance.
On Saturday morning we met Hatagote, the performance group that we would be joining. We did a rehearsal of all the pieces and discovered that the way we were taught was not at all the way the group performed the pieces. That meant more time trying to learn the new routine and trying to sing and move faster since we had rehearsed at too slow a speed. At first I felt incredibly awkward, inept, and annoyed. Some of the Hatagote group members were very friendly and tried to help us navigate, but others just seemed to watch us amusedly. By the end of the rehearsal I was feeling slightly more capable of performing without making a complete fool of myself, but I still wouldn't say I was looking forward to it.
After a large lunch and a thunderstorm, we headed off to Busabi, a village in the east, to do the official performance. We dressed in traditional costumes and headed into the middle of a very large circle of people. Once the performance started, it actually turned out to be more enjoyable than I expected. There was a lot of energy and the crowd was clearly enjoying it. There were moments when I felt very out of place and like everyone was staring at the 9 muzungus doing a silly dance. But, at other times I felt like a member of the Hatagote group and forgot about the differences between us and the fact that we were a spectacle. Ultimately, the performance was not the horror that I had been dreading and was definitely better than all of the rehearsals leading up to it. I fully support the idea of theater for development, and if by having 9 foreigners there it drew a few more locals to see the performance, then perhaps it was worth it. Being different usually seems to be a bad thing, but in this case I think my status as a spectacle in Uganda was worth it. Regardless of whether I felt uncomfortable or not, I helped convey a very important message about sanitation. Here's to the unexpected!
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