Country representing: Morocco
Number of performers in the whole group: 11
Group Website: https://www.facebook.com/@tizouite
Competitions Participating In: Traditional Folk-Dance Group, Llangollen Dance Off, Non-Competitive
Biography:
Groupe Jeunesse Tizwite (previously known as Ahidous Tizwit) was founded sixty-nine years ago in the southern Moroccan town of Kelaat Mgouna, to promote and preserve the ancient cultural traditions of the original Berber tribes of the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, in particular, the famous ‘Dance of the Bees’, after which the group is named.
Activities
Ahidous is the traditional entertainment and celebration in Berber villages to mark events such as harvest and weddings. It is a collective performance: the whole village joins in, with the male and female dancers and musicians standing shoulder to shoulder, either alternately or a line of men facing a line of women.
The songs are call and response in form and are accompanied by reverberating frame drums (bendir) and rhythmic hand claps. The music and dance are fast and furious, and never more so than in the ‘Dance of the Bees’: the lines of performers interweave, turn and spin faster and faster as the dance progresses, evoking the frantic movements of bees in the hive.
The men wear long white or yellow robes and turbans, yellow leather ‘babouche’ slippers and intricately-decorated leather wallets. The women also wear white but with multi-coloured, embroidered leather ‘babouches’, colourful headdresses, shawls and heavy necklaces.
Achievements
Groupe Jeunesse Tizwite is one of Morocco’s most famous traditional ensembles, winning annual awards at the many cultural festivals throughout the length and breadth of the country, including:
- 1st prize at the National Ahidous Festival at Ain Leuh
- 1st prize at the Boughamin Festival of Folkoric Arts
- 1st prize at the Kelaat Mgouna Rose Festival
- 2nd prize at the National Festival of Popular Culture in Marrakech.
It has won international acclaim at festivals in Algeria, Austria, Canada, Chile, China, France, South Korea – and at the Llangollen Eisteddfod in 2016 (with the original group of older performers) when it won 5th place in the Traditional Folk-Dance Group category and 6th place in the Cultural Showcase.
History
Groupe Jeunesse Tizwite are keepers of the flame of Berber culture. For almost seventy years they have continued what could have been a dying tradition, encouraging and developing the creative talents of young performers, providing entertainment and a connection to their roots to generations of Moroccans in countryside and city alike.
The current group is the youngest yet, and its mission is to show that the old traditions are as relevant to the young as they are to their parents, providing community cohesion and grounding for a people in a developing country undergoing rapid change.
They are now working under the umbrella of the Creative Den Foundation, an Anglo-Moroccan initiative to preserve and share the cultural traditions of the south of Morocco and create a permanent legacy for rural communities through development, employment or educational opportunities.
Creative Den will pursue other opportunities for Groupe Jeunesse Tizwite to perform in the UK over the summer of 2024. But foremost is the potential valuable opportunity for the new group to experience the rich diversity of the international folkdance community and to make useful contacts for the future.
