Strangers’ Dress & Dance

The project concentrates on the dress and dance of Congolese refugees in Norwich in the East of England. The project is needed to preserve and protect the cultural dress and dance of the Congolese to be passed on from the elders to young people. The cultural tradition of dress and dance are at risk of disappearing when the elders pass away as young people are adopting modern western dress and hip-hop dance forgetting Congolese dress and dance.

The project will enable Congolese living in Norwich to learn about their cultural traditional costumes and dance, their significance, where they are worn especially traditional events, what kind of costumes are worn by traditional leaders and their differences from those worn by the subjects such as chiefs and subjects in an area, why certain traditional costumes are forbidden from being worn by people who are not part of the cult like the Nyau or Gure culture, bridal dresses, traditional healers dresses and so on. Congolese will perform research to get facts and information about their traditional costumes and dance. The research will involve talking to traditional elders and contacting traditional people back home in Africa.