The Shoulder Dance!

We've been fortunate to experience some of the traditional Ethiopian dancing while we have been in Addis Ababa. Ethiopians have a great deal of pride in general and there are different dances for different ethnic areas. For example, the Amhara people of this region have different types of dances than the Oromo people of the East or the Tigray people of the north. We went out to dinner the other night and enjoyed a number of performances. The dancing is generally very fast-paced and we could not help but wonder what types of orthopedic complaints these dances are going to have! Ha.. kind of like how we see people on the streets ambulating incorrectly with an assistive device and we want to stop the car and do some gait training! Must be a PT thing.

Anyhow, in Ethiopian culture there is a dance we call the "shoulder dance" (cannot think of the Amharic word for it at the moment). Traditionally the dance has been performed during the time of the Epiphany holiday (Orthodox Christian church). Before the celebrations begin, the man purchases a lemon from a street vendor. During the dancing celebrations, groups funnel a man and women together until they are "shoulder dancing" in close proximity. (Usually they have never met eachother). At the end of the dance, the man may choose to throw the woman his lemon. If she catches it, they will be married. This is still practiced in many parts of the country.

Quite the contrast from American dating. I see two problems with this. What if I am really hungry and want the lemon, but not the man? Or, what if I want the man but am clumsy and don't catch the lemon?