The highlight for me was the blowpipe dance. The warrior in the Iban house was the dancer. He did his dance then shot balloons from the stage that were tacked high up on a wall. Then he came down into the audience. I soon realized that he was searching and finally found his target, Elder Boyter. He took Elder Boyter up on stage and taught him the dance, which Elder Boyter did very good. Elder Boyter hammed it up, it was very funny.
Then the warrior handed Elder Boyter the blowpipe and had him shoot at the balloon. Elder Boyter got very close, within inches. I think it really surprised the warrior. So the warrior took Elder Boyter closer to about 30 feet and Elder Boyter popped the balloon with the blow pipe.
It was great fun. I went up on stage with other audience members and did a dance. It was a great afternoon.
I have LOVED all these posts about the different cultures/homes/etc. People are SO AMAZING. It never ceases to astound me just how much ingenuity and resourcefulness and variety there is among the people of the world. Each culture takes the materials available to them and makes such creative, artistic, functional and useful things. There is no end to the variety of dance, music, clothing, etc. Simply amazing.
ReplyDeleteSo here's my question - how many people still live in the traditional way of their ancestors? Has almost everyone morphed into a "more modern" way of life?