By NAOMI FAIK-SIMET
IN SOME parts of PNG, dance performances play an important role in highlighting the different roles of men and women. Certain dances are only performed by women while other dances are performed only by men.
This is prevalent in some parts of New Britain where there is a very high degree of segregation between the sexes in that the women dance on their own and men dance on their own.
During a field-trip to Toimtop village in East Pomio, East New Britain province, it was discovered amongst other dances that a particular dance called moghogaing (means “to wash”) is only performed by women.
This dance depicts a special cleansing ceremony that is performed only by women. The movements of the dance portray the action of washing using a special bark from a tree. The bark is believed to have medicinal value which is used to cleanse elderly women as well as young girls from all diseases. This bark is represented by the tanget leaf in the dance.
The women use both hands to hold the tanget leaves during the dance performance to represent the special bark. The dance is performed in four parts with each movement signifying the action of washing and the rites involved in the ritual. The women enter in two straight lines and then break up into pairs. One woman bends while the other woman washes her with the tanget leaves. Interestingly, the women coordinate the arm movements together with the leg movements.
The movement of the feet takes the form of short skips which are done on the spot and then extended to long steps to allow for the dancers to change their positions and dance patterns. An outstanding feature of this dance is in the leg and feet movements. Choreographic methods of the dance were elaborate while the dance patterns were beautifully executed. The musicians comprised of women who sang songs in the Mengen language accompanied by the sound of kundu.
The role that women play in such performances can be interpreted in so many ways. In this cleansing ceremony, women have been tasked to cleanse themselves because of the role they play in relation to their status as mothers, sisters, wives and daughters. Women are seen as the procreators of social and kinship relations. They are responsible for the reproduction and continuity of the “lineage strength”. The cleansing ceremony is secretly performed to purify and cleanse all persons from evil powers, curses and diseases.
It is also believed that only young boys are cleansed by their mothers in this cleansing ceremony. The Sulka and Mengen people have very strong beliefs towards the preservation, protection and maintenance of their cultural heritage. The role that women play towards achieving this is through their participation in ceremonial performances.
The moghogaing is one of the many special dances found in Papua New Guinea that empowers the role of women in traditional societies.

The writer is a dance researcher in the Music Department, Institute of Papua New Guinea Studies

 

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