This article analyzes representations of the Zimbabwean jikinya dance myth by Geoffrey Ndhlala in the novel Jikinya and Musaemura Zimunya in the poetry anthology Kingfisher, Jikinya and other poems. It examines the different social and historical settings considered in Ndhlala’s Jikinya (pre-colonial Zimbabwe) and Zimunya’s “Jikinya” (Dancer) and “Jikinya” (An African Passion) (the colonial period of the 1970s Zimbabwean anti-colonial war), and discusses how both texts attempt at describing the aesthetics of the jikinya dance and reinterpret Zimbabwe’s pre-colonial and colonial culture and politics. Of significance, however, is that, being aware of the fact that the nature and significance of dance representations in these texts has received less attention, we analyze the way both writers handle Zimbabwean jikinya in colonial contexts. As a result, we argue in this article that although both authors struggle to portray a clear picture of what the dance really is to the reader, they are able to portray the significance of the jikinya myth and dance in the construction of the nation’s memories and the mapping of the ongoing social experiences and political contestations encountered during Zimbabwe’s colonial history.

The article analyzes kongonya dance as it occurs in everyday Zimbabwean spaces. Tracing its origins, utility, and metamorphosis, I studied kongonya dance in its performed world; observed kongonya being danced at a pungwe, a gala, and a political function; and watched kongonya being performed on state television. Through participant-observations, respondent testimonies, and personal interviews of dancers and nondancers for all these contexts, pertinent data on kongonya were collected. The article contends that kongonya has both a human and inhuman face, having been transformed from a dance for the people into a dance against the people—a phenomenon at the mercy of political manipulators. Despite kongonya having creatively promoted the nationalist cause of the 1970s Zimbabwean liberation party, kongonya has been abused in the postcolonial state in an attempt to placate citizens, suppress dissension, and (also) in the hopes of reinvigorating the waning fortunes of the ruling party, ZANU PF. Initially, kongonya reflected an apparently more national outlook than an ethnic one, but lately it has revealed rather hegemonic traits. Regrettably, politicians sought to manipulate the malleability of dance and harness kongonya's national character to an exclusionist political agenda.

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