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For over two decades, Fernando Anuang’a, a performer, storyteller and ambassador of cultural heritage, has taken Maasai dance, a cultural cornerstone of his homeland, and reimagined it for global audiences, while preserving the spirit of its origins.
Anuang’a shows CNN his latest dance piece, which focuses on the evolution of nomadic lifestyles. He explains, “When we move from one place to another, we go and discover things, different things. And during the journey, there are so many difficult situations. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s hard. Those are the experiences we encounter. In my show, We Are Nomads, I try to bring this situation – that there is joy, there is suffering, and in the end, there is success.”
Anuang’a‘s movement is rooted in history but shaped by the present, a fusion of tradition and reinvention. He explains what this fusion means to him, “To me the traditional dance is a foundation of someone. It gives you a good stand before developing into other moves. And we as human beings also, dance has been there since ages. That’s the things people do, because there were already rhythms. People create rhythms and dance.”
The Maasai prepare for dance as they would for battle or celebration, it is a ritual of transformation. Anuang’a describes the importance of preparation, “The preparation is what makes you get immersed in what you’re going to do. When I perform, I put myself into the world of that traditional part. If it’s contemporary, I put myself into that. It’s a ritual before the ceremony. The show is the ceremony.”
By performing for audiences around the world, Anuang’a hopes to preserve Maasai culture while challenging and educating his audience, “For me, my dance when I’m on stage is we are talking, we are having a dialogue with the audience. At the end is when you find out, did they really understand? Did they really receive the message? And that’s when you will know what you had really created, before it’s working on the theme that you had chosen to bring out.”
Over recent years many Maasais have been forced from their land. If this trend continues, the culture that goes hand in hand with their traditional semi-nomadic lifestyle is under threat. Anuang’a tells CNN the importance of keeping traditions alive, “The dance is very important. We can say the dance and the songs in the Maasai community, they’re very important because in the songs, that’s where the history is. That’s where the stories are, that’s where the education is. So, if this tradition stops about singing the ceremonies, then the history of Maasai people also is gone.”