Lions of Zululand
In March 2009, the pupils and staff at Tor Bank made some very special new friends from South Africa. These are the Lions of Zululand a group of 12 dancers who visited our school, performing their native dances and songs.
Traditional outfits, made of animal skins and beads where worn and the boys danced with shields and spears. They sang songs in their native tongue and we heard a range of wonderful sounds, made from stamping their feet and spears to various vocal sounds, whistles and clicks. They performed fast dances with high kicks and certain members of staff where later spotted in the corridors trying to get their legs up as high! At the end of their performances, pupils and staff were invited to get up and dance with them. That was great fun! One of the ‘warriors’ even carried Gillian, the school secretary, on to the dance floor.
After they performed in front of the whole school, the “Lions” held workshops where they taught their dance moves, their South African songs and their culture and language. It was wonderful to get up close to their amazing artefacts and to have the opportunity to interact with people from another country, whose heritage and culture is completely different to our own. At the end of the day, the whole school came back together again and showed our new found skills. While the staff danced well, the pupils knew they did it better.
We enjoyed our time with our new friends so much, that we invited other schools to experience their superb dances and workshops and the Lions of Zululand toured various schools in Belfast and County Down throughout their 10 day visit to the Province. The performance was so enjoyable, we invited family and friends of the Tor Bank Youth Club to a special evening performance.
The “Lions” enjoyed their time in Northern Ireland very much, including a trip round Belfast on the Saturday of their visit. We were sad to see them leave, but we have many photographs and many happy memories and we are all looking forward to Lions of Zululand visiting again next year. The pupils and staff want to say a big thank you to the charity, Happy Days, who provided sponsorship, which helped fund the “Lions” visit, as well as saying a thank you for all other donations which where made during their visit, making the multiple performances possible.
Lions of Zululand is a heritage, culture & arts group from South Africa, who due to popular demand, return to Great Britain every year (in between other world wide visits). More information about them can be found on their website – http://www.lionsofzululand.com/. This year Tor Bank was privileged to be the host school on the Northern Ireland leg of their UK tour. Subject to funding, they would like to visit Northern Ireland next year, covering a wider part of the Province and we all hope we can raise the necessary funds and interest from other schools and organisations throughout the Province to facilitate this. For further information, please contact the school on info@torbankss.belfast.ni.sch.uk.
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The "Lions" Sang |
The "Lions" Danced |
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They wore animal skins and held sheilds and spears |
The "Lions" have a fishy good time in Belfast |
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