Description

The “Nonyana” (Bird-Spirit) is an energetic figure dressed in a cloak of blackened bark-fibre and a scarlet-bean head-dress topped with oistrich feathers. The curious creature thus portrayed is central to the mystery of the highly secret “domba”-ceremony of the Venda tribe, living in South Africa next to the boarder of Simbabwe. He uses a reed pipe as a
voice-modifier to amplify the sound of its cries. The female dancers execute their demanding “Python Dance” during night-time to the solemn beat of the “domba”-drum. The composition attempts to evoke the “Nonyana’s” role in the ritual. It involves a great variety of mimetic movements, some of them carried but slowly and mysteriously in a crouching position, others culminating in vigorous leaps with arms and legs flung wide and jerking of the head.