In Venda culture, the tshikona is performed at nearly all important occasions, such as the installation of a new ruler, the commemoration of a ruler’s death, the sacrificial rites at the graves of a ruler’s ancestors and other celebrations. This dance is known as the national dance of the Venda people, who have been performing it for generations. But no one else can perform the tshikona with the same flair as one particular group of women at Muswodi-Tshisimani village, near Folovhodwe, known as Tshikona tsha Muswodi-Tshisimani tsha Vhafumakadzi (female tshikona dancers).

The leader of this group of 43 women, Ms Elisa Phaswana, said the group was established way back in 1982, in the era of late Venda President Patrick Ramaano Mphephu, who used to encourage the communities to promote and preserve their culture.

Phaswana said that although the tshikona had originally been performed by men - dancing and playing on different instruments - for this group of women it had become one of the most interesting and enjoyable dances they had ever performed in their lives. “We get hired around the Vhembe region to perform when new traditional leaders are being installed or during their burials, and at traditional and cultural dance competitions. It also serves as a job-creation project for unemployed rural women as we get paid most of the time for performing the tshikona, which helps us to put food on the table for our families.”

Phaswana said that one of the most remarkable ceremonies they had ever attended in all their years of playing and dancing the tshikona had been when they had been invited to the inauguration of former Venda ruler Frank Ndwakhulu Ravele, when he had become the second President of Venda, late in 1988, shortly after the death of Patrick Ramaano Mphephu.

Thovhele Ratshibvumo II Rammbuda, who recently witnessed Tshikona tsha Muswodi-Tshisimani tsha Vhafumakadzi doing the tshikona, was excited that the women from his rural communities have mastered a dance traditionally performed by men. “We are proud to be associated with these women. Tshikona tsha Muswodi-Tshisimani tsha Vhafumakadzi will remain the centre of entertainment for communities around,” he said.