Ostrich Courting Dance from Documentary “Bitter Melons“ by John K. Marshall (1955)“

Shot in 1955, this film focuses on a small band of /Gwi San living in the arid landscape of the central Kalahari Desert in present-day Botswana. Men and boys from Okwa and /Ei kxa o dance the “Ostrich Courting Dance“. The men form a rough circle and chant a rhythmic counterpoint to the clapping of the women, who sit under a tree. The men and boys take turns stepping into the center of the circle, and swinging one leg over the head of another man who,has bent over from the waist. This movement is supposed to imitate the courtship of the ostrich.