Dance, the new sport putting Uganda at the top 

Tiny six-year-old Sandra aka B Popper attempts to make a pivot turn move and fails miserably thrice, but she tries again and succeeds on the fourth attempt.

She has just been defeated a few minutes ago in a battle by her close friend Flex aka B Popper in a friendly popping challenge at St Lawrence Schools, London College in Nsangi, during the dancesport camp.

With a cheering crowd, almost bordering on provocative taunting, any other child in her age, in any other scenario, would have broken down into tears. But for dancesport athletes (however young), that is what healthy competitions come with – the ability to contain defeat and lose with respect and grace.

Their rhythm, patterns and body flexes were befitting their age range, but you could sense and feel the mature aggression and competitiveness in their performances.

For B Popper, there was no time for sentimentalism and self-loathing and only practice and more practice could help her settle the challenge against her friend.

At the four-day dancesport camp, there were mini battles and a watching crowd everywhere – in the kitchen, bathroom, dormitories, parking area, name it.

The battles are an infectious obsession – everyone wants to challenge everybody within and beyond their age group. Luckily, the judging crowd is a fair one.

Yet, dancesport only became recognized as a sport in Uganda in 2019 and is even newer in other African countries; Uganda, South Africa, and Morocco have developed the fiercest and topmost continental rivalries, especially as they battle for the five 2024 Olympics slots for Africa.

Dancesport is a modernized ballroom competition from the 1920s but this time with a widened scope and more global ppeal – incorporating breaking dance (B-boying and b-girling), hip pop, popping, Latin (Samba, Cha-Cha-Cha, Rumba, Paso Doble and Jive), contemporary ballet, acrobatic rock’n’roll, Salsa and Bachata. For Ugandan dancers, the biggest interest is in hip pop, popping and breaking dances.

As the modern name suggests, dancesport involves dancing, lots of rhythmic dancing to mostly music without vocals – so that the audience can concentrate on the dancer’s moves.

Hearing Uganda DanceSport Federation (UDSF) general secretary Barnabas Ssebuyungo talk about dancesport, and seeing the youngsters’ performances, you can’t help but fall in love with the sport; no wonder, it is already spreading like wildfire in schools.

At the stay-in dancesport camp that was also used to sensitize media and teachers, there were more than 200 students in attendance.

The new O-level curriculum that emphasizes and promotes such co- curricular talent and skills building, has also contributed immensely towards the fast growth of the sport.

According to Ssebuyungo, who previously worked at the Federation of Uganda Football Associations (Fufa), unlike other sports federations in the country, they will never cry out to the government to fund their activities, thanks to their strategic planning.

He claims currently, they have at least 337 schools registered under the federation with nearly 10,000 athletes. Each registered school pays an annual membership fee of Shs 500,000. Ssebuyungo challenges other federations to think outside the box, stop corruption and stop concentrating all their activities in the central region and particularly Kampala.

He says because they have the numbers in terms of the athletes and the crowds cutting across the country, they can afford to be selective and picky with sponsors and partners and negotiate for the best deals in the market.

“With our current five sponsors and partnerships including the French embassy, we are not yearning for sponsorship and we are not yearning to sell the sport. We prefer organic growth and that is why we started with schools and youngsters who will grow with the sport,” he says.

He says Uganda is ranked number two in Africa and 33 in the world, according to the latest cumulative rankings. Ssebuyungo says UDSF is so influential and was behind last year’s controversial government decision to ban musicians from performing in schools. According to him, they could not just watch on as musicians like Sheebah Karungi and Winnie Nwangi continued to take their negative influences into schools.