ABSTRACT
Agency through sexual dance can be expressed in many ways. Among the Bemba people of northern Zambia, ukuchindila nabwinga is a term that means dancing for the bride. During the premarital rite of passage imbusa, older women instruct the bride in the art of sex and how her movements are important for satisfaction during the act. Imbusa however is not only a premarital rite; it constitutes a Bemba philosophy and worldview, and a woman is the important custodian of the agency associated with the dance. The dance movements associated with imbusa are not imposed externally. Instead, infunkutu (the Bemba sex dance) engages body movements derived from natural phenomena like waves on the sea. There is also a river bug – an injelela – that is important in the rite: its excited movements on the river's surface are echoed in the infunkutu dance. A woman is taught to imitate the movement of this darting river bug but also the movements of the snake when it moves, in zigzag on the grass. During the rite, a woman is taught to wriggle her waist/pelvis excitedly as does the injelela, and with intention like the snake moves. For women, Bemba sexual agency is taught through dance.
