whoa . . .
from "Ivory Coast in a song and dance over birdflu" on reuters.com:"The "Prudencia" -- a dance performed by looking rhythmically over each shoulder to check for danger came in the wake of the war and the "pigeon's wing" is another bird-inspired groove."
By Peter Murphy
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Days after bird flu was detected in Ivory Coast, hundreds of people were trembling, flapping their arms and clucking like hens.
But there was no cause for alarm -- the outbreak was confined to dancefloors.
The movements which are now the talk of the town in the West African country are the brainchild of a 21-year-old disc jockey DJ Lewis, who invented a dance making light of the deadly virus -- by imitating a chicken in its death throes during a cull.
"When you kill the chicken this is how it dies," he shouts into the microphone as a Saturday night crowd rose from tables of green and brown beer bottles to watch him demonstrate the moves, some trying to imitate him while others would just laugh.
Leaning backward and shaking his wrists, arms and legs to the beat of the music, he looks on the verge of collapse with his eyes half closed before he springs back to life with a loud clucking sound and starts all over again.
DJ Lewis says he's trying to fight fear of the disease by getting people to have a laugh about it. Worries about bird flu have turned Ivorians off poultry and boosted demand for snails, rabbit, antelope and other bush meat.
"It's catching on quickly. People are coming from around Abidjan to see it," the DJ, with his name tattooed onto his right arm in large block letters told Reuters, adding he was partly inspired to do it by traditional Ivorian custom.
"Witchdoctors would get everyone in the village to dance to chase out disease so I started to think about how my ancestors would deal with (bird flu)," said the 21-year-old prize-winning DJ who still eats chicken if he's "sure it's well cooked".
Ivory Coast has been torn into a government-run south and rebel-held north since a 2002-03 civil war and tensions run high in the country as peace deals are slowly worked out.
But bars and discos on both sides of a U.N. and French-manned border keeping the warring factions apart still thrive as Ivory Coast's artists continue to turn out new concepts and styles for its music and dance-mad people.
The "Prudencia" -- a dance performed by looking rhythmically over each shoulder to check for danger came in the wake of the war and the "pigeon's wing" is another bird-inspired groove.
The most popular Ivorian style called the "couper-decaler" or "cut and split" has spread to some nearby countries.
DJ Lewis is vague on how the dance mocking the painful death of a chicken can make people less and not more scared of bird flu in a place where chickens roam roadsides and backyards.
But he remains passionate about his new dance and hopeful it will bring a boost to his career as a DJ and his ambitions of fame. "Watch this space," he said, in the words of his favourite catchphrase at the turntables.
link
By Peter Murphy
ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Days after bird flu was detected in Ivory Coast, hundreds of people were trembling, flapping their arms and clucking like hens.
But there was no cause for alarm -- the outbreak was confined to dancefloors.
The movements which are now the talk of the town in the West African country are the brainchild of a 21-year-old disc jockey DJ Lewis, who invented a dance making light of the deadly virus -- by imitating a chicken in its death throes during a cull.
"When you kill the chicken this is how it dies," he shouts into the microphone as a Saturday night crowd rose from tables of green and brown beer bottles to watch him demonstrate the moves, some trying to imitate him while others would just laugh.
Leaning backward and shaking his wrists, arms and legs to the beat of the music, he looks on the verge of collapse with his eyes half closed before he springs back to life with a loud clucking sound and starts all over again.
DJ Lewis says he's trying to fight fear of the disease by getting people to have a laugh about it. Worries about bird flu have turned Ivorians off poultry and boosted demand for snails, rabbit, antelope and other bush meat.
"It's catching on quickly. People are coming from around Abidjan to see it," the DJ, with his name tattooed onto his right arm in large block letters told Reuters, adding he was partly inspired to do it by traditional Ivorian custom.
"Witchdoctors would get everyone in the village to dance to chase out disease so I started to think about how my ancestors would deal with (bird flu)," said the 21-year-old prize-winning DJ who still eats chicken if he's "sure it's well cooked".
Ivory Coast has been torn into a government-run south and rebel-held north since a 2002-03 civil war and tensions run high in the country as peace deals are slowly worked out.
But bars and discos on both sides of a U.N. and French-manned border keeping the warring factions apart still thrive as Ivory Coast's artists continue to turn out new concepts and styles for its music and dance-mad people.
The "Prudencia" -- a dance performed by looking rhythmically over each shoulder to check for danger came in the wake of the war and the "pigeon's wing" is another bird-inspired groove.
The most popular Ivorian style called the "couper-decaler" or "cut and split" has spread to some nearby countries.
DJ Lewis is vague on how the dance mocking the painful death of a chicken can make people less and not more scared of bird flu in a place where chickens roam roadsides and backyards.
But he remains passionate about his new dance and hopeful it will bring a boost to his career as a DJ and his ambitions of fame. "Watch this space," he said, in the words of his favourite catchphrase at the turntables.
link