ABSTRACT
The general characteristics of African dancing seem to persist through the centuries. The descriptions given in the sixteenth century by Father Andre Fernandes and Father Gonzalo de Silveira of a Chopi dance are applicable to the Mabandla, Councillors' movement. The dancers, like the musicians, are led by one man, the dance leader, Muningeti wabasinyi, sometimes called Mbandi waMbandla. The dancers were now all prepared and lined up about ten paces away, facing the orchestra, though it is more usual for them to be drawn up to one side waiting for their entry. NSUMETO, or KWABALU SUMETO MA-BANDLA movement was a kind of intermezzo to cover the period between the Mzeno and Mabandla movements, while the dancers were retiring to their positions and while the crowd made way for them by retreating to the flanks and behind the orchestra.
