Most people may be think of lightly dressed artists with  big snakes curled around their slim bodies, when they hear about snake dance in Denmark. Before it was not often you could get a chance to see a live snake in this country, if you were not living near a Zoo. But you might get lucky to see one in one of the  touring circuses. Who doesn´t remember "Annika and the Snake" performing with "Denmark´s Strongest Man".

Snake dance in Denmark.

Mzee Ka´ngwina painted by Philippo Innocent 1998

To us drum-dancers snake dance was introduced by the late Mzee Ka´ngwina from Sukumaland, whom we are seeing on the picture wearing the traditional king´s costume. He was the first, who tried to teach us the special drumming and dancing style of the snake dancers. That was in the late eighties during one of his visits to the Utamaduni camp, where we had captured a small, but piosonous local snake and wanted to dance with it.