Dance for Peace

On the eve of the first elections in Mozambique the Mozambican National Song and Dance Company tour the country with their new work, “Ode to Peace.” Using archive to detail the horrors of the apartheid fueled civil war just ended, the documentary moves between daily reality in Mozambique, the demobilisation of thousands of troops. The story is told through dance. Travelling on roads that have only just been de-mined this film combines war with dance drama. Dance for Peace is based upon a dance choreography called Ode a Paz created by the Mozambican National Dance Company. Ode a Paz was part of the voter education programme for the first elections that Mozambique ever held - 1994. Mozambique had been at war effectively since the anticolonial struggle started in the 60's.The dance company argued that dance is a national form of communication that everyone understands since there is no effective national language; not everyone speaks Portuguese, and there are 18 indigenous languages,. So they told the story of the war, the ceasefire, and gave training in the forthcoming election through their choreography: Ode a Paz. The dance and this film were shown and used for voter education throughout Mozambique. This was the first ever democratic election held in Mozambique.