Riel dancers get flirting at Paarl dust-up
RIEL dance groups Betjies van Betjiesfontein and Betjies Rooirots trampled all opposition into the dust on their way to winning the junior and senior cultural 2016 ATKVRieldans finals in Paarl on Saturday.
Betjies van Betjiesfontein, from Clanwilliam, showed some nifty footwork to be crowned kings of the junior category final, while Betjies Rooirots from Elizabethfontein took no prisoners to win the senior category.
Results of the competition include: senior Ms and Mr Rieldance personality 2016, respectively, Bernadine Fortuin of Betjies Rooirots and Angelo Hugo of Boesmanland Bitterbessies.
In the junior Ms and Mr Rieldance Personality 2016 category, the winners, respectively, were Lee-Ann van Wyk of Betjies van Betjiesfontein, and Jason Roberts of the Calvinia Sitstappers.
Best senior female dancer was Anechia Cloete of Griekwa Ratelgat, and Best senior male dancer was Abraham Willemse of Betjies Rooirots.
The best junior female dancer was Luwandri Schrader of Brandvlei Stofskoppers and best junior male dancer was Cheslan Claaste of Betjies van Betjiesfontein.
This was the 11th consecutive year that the ATKVRieldans finals had been held.
As a dance form, Riel dancing had been practised mainly on farms, particularly among sheep-shearers, from the 1930s until the early 1960s.
The dance has to do with the romance between male and female, and imitates the actions of animals and birds, for instance the butterfly dance and the flirting of cocks, male ostriches and turkeys.