☞ SEE: Live Art at the Mink Building

Wednesday, March 2nd, 12:00 Noon at the Mink Building, 1361 Amsterdam and 126th Street. There will be a live art installation at the Mink Building where viewers will also become part of the exhibit by learning the traditional Gumboot Dance of South Africa. Participants will be taught choreography by a trained dancer, change into the uniforms provided and have the entire piece videotaped as a visual art record of the event.

Gumboot dancing was born in the gold mines of South Africa at the height of the migrant labor system and during the oppressive Apartheid Pass Laws. The gumboot dance (or Welly Boot dance) is performed by dancers wearing Wellington boots. Sometimes the boots had bells added, to ring as the dancers stamp on the ground. This dance was often used as a code or system of calling to say something to another person a distance away. It acted in place of language among those working in the mining grounds.  Gumboot dancing can be seen today in the tourist areas of South Africa and viewers of this unique exhibit will be able to participate in the long standing tradition. Admission is $35 for this event and may be purchased on TicketWeb: LINK