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  • English: Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround
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Gumboots
Warner Vision/Warner Vision . R4 . COLOR . 72 mins . E . PAL

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Gumboots is the touring stageshow derived from South African gumboot-dancing. That's the form of dance which one group of gumbooters will tell you was derived from visiting Russian sailors - a sort of African cossack steppes.

Other gumbooters will tell you the dance started in the deep, dark gold mines of South Africa, when the black workers, wearing gumboots to protect them from the cold dank waters, were forbidden to speak to each other. So they developed a secret code language based on slapping their gumboots and rattling their ankle-chains.

Whatever the origin, this is a lively expression of the tradition, danced and sung by ten Black South Africans with full non-stop expressive energy.

In the end I was finding it too limiting and repetitive, but then I get overdosed by Riverdance too after more than three minutes. But if you like the Riverdance type of experience, and men shouting and singing, jumping up and down and stamping and slapping their gumboots for more than an hour, you'll love it.

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The full-frame image is colourful and sharp; it seems a very good transfer of a made-for-television film. The audio is strong and detailed, with the Dolby Digital 5.0 track just an edge better than the very clear and detailed Linear PCM alternative.

The 72-minute performance is supplemented by a 53-minute documentary, The Gumboots Story, which traces the evolution of this type of dance, and of this particular ensemble. It's very well made; a highly professional addition to the DVD.


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  •   And I quote...
    "If you like the Riverdance type of experience, and men shouting and singing, jumping up and down and stamping and slapping their gumboots for more than an hour, you'll love this South African dance explosion."
    - Anthony Clarke
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