Suppose you arrive in an East African country, particularly Kenya; the first people you will notice are these tall, dark, and handsome men and women Known as Maasai. With extensive body adornment and long braided hair/dreadlocks wearing a sheet of fabric known as Shuka dancing and chanting with spears and Rungus.
Maasai are the plain Nilotic people who migrated from Southern Sudan to southern parts of Kenya and Tanzania. In Tanzania, they occupy Serengeti and Kenya, occupy Maasai Mara and speak the “Maa” language. More than 70% of Maasai people have refused the government pressure to settle in permanents homes. As a result, the Maasai have become a more widely recognized symbol of East Africa; approximately 800,000 of them are in Kenya.
The Adamu dance
Aside from their colorful attire and extensive body adornment, the Maasai are known for their one-of-a-kind and exquisite dance known as “Adamu,” or the Jumping dance, traditionally performed by warriors.
The Maasai dance begins with men and women forming a line and moving closer together while chanting and grunting. Then, the volume and intensity of their movement increase, forming a steady rhythm of up, forward, bend, forward. A human pulse that can be felt in one’s bones even while walking through the open air, young men break into song as they approach the crowd inside a coral circle.
Now in the center of the circle, two men leap straight up, each time higher than the last time. Then, as the energy flows into and through the corral, the men circle back, chanting in response, a sort of call and response, their voices growing in volume and pitch.
The Maasai dances with no instruments, except for the Akudu horn blown on special occasions such as the Eunoto ceremony, an important male rites of passage ceremony performed every generation (every 20 years) to mark the important transition of morans (Maasai warriors) entering manhood.
The meanings of the jumping dance
Their dance represents many things, including the joy of having visitors, the wedding ceremony, the circumcision of boys, and simply having a good time. But, unfortunately, the Maasai have a patriarchal social structure. Older men make most decisions for each group, and his number of cattle and children determines a man’s wealth.
