How To Get In Touch
How To Get In Touch

If you have any questions or queries about Tribal Groove which aren't answered in our Frequently Asked Questions, you can contact us using the form below or by sending an email to the Tribal Groove team. We'll do our best to get back to you as soon as we can.


<email@tribalgroove.co.uk>





Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the most commonly asked questions we get about Tribal Groove. If you have a question you'd like answered, send it to us and we'll add it to the list!

  1. What's so special about Tribal Groove?
  2. Where does African Body Percussion come from?
  3. You're not African – How can you teach this dance?
  4. Why can't I just make up my own steps?
  5. Where is my Tutor's Handbook?
  6. Will the DVD work in America / Australia / Europe / etc.?

1. What's So Special About Tribal Groove?

Well, aside from being a really fun and engaging dance form, we've also given each body percussion step the name of a virtue (such as patience, truthfulness, respectfulness, etc.), as well as a range of communication and consultation skills. The participants are encouraged to practice these "spiritual" qualities alongside the physical dance.

We have spent more than five years developing and using Tribal Groove not just as a way of teaching an interesting and unusual form of dance and music, but also to bring in elements that are often lacking in modern life – how to communicate respectfully and how to implement positive virtues into our every-day lives.

2. Where Does African Body Percussion Come From?

You might think the answer to this question is rather obvious. But in fact body percussion has roots and origins in many cultures around the world. Many tribal dances on every continent use clapping, stamping and tapping as a way of making and enhancing music.

Today there are many styles of body percussion, from hambone to step dance to stomp! Body percussion dancing is very popular in America, but not quite so well-known elsewhere.

The form of body percussion that inspired Tribal Groove comes from the diamond mines of Southern Africa. The black workers were not allowed to talk, so they tapped and slapped their gumboots as a way of getting messages to each other. Later it evolved into a dance form that honoured their struggle. You can find out more about history of gumboot dancing at www.gumbootsworldtour.com.

We learned this style of body percussion when we visited Swaziland in 1999 as part of a project linking schools. One of our friends there taught us lots of steps which we adapted and developed into Tribal Groove.

3. You're Not African – How Can You Teach This Dance?

Seems like a bit of a strange question, but believe it or not we were once asked this in an interview for a fairly well-known publication! The answer is quite simple. We are all citizens of the same planet. We rub shoulders with people from many different backgrounds, and in music and dance we share a universal language that can break down barriers and promote tolerance and understanding.

Celebrating the diverse and beautiful cultures of the world and encouraging people to explore their own cultures and the cultures of their neighbours is an important part of what Tribal Groove is about. In fact it's a crucial part of unifying the human race.

Could an African teach Irish Step Dancing? Could an Indian teach English Morris Dancing? Of course! And the more we enjoy the cultures of those around us, the more we break down barriers and promote unity and peace.

4. Why Can't I Just Make Up My Own Steps?

We very much hope you do! Tribal Groove provides you with the all the basic skills you need to perform some very impressive looking African Body Percussion! But don't stop there! As with any creative form, the more you develop it and add your own inspiration, the better it becomes. We sincerely hope that this DVD is just the start of your Tribal Groove journey! And, of course, don't forget that Tribal Groove is about more than just the dance itself!

If you're doing something interesting with Tribal Groove we'd love to share photos or video of you in action on our community page, so your inspiration can go on to inspire others too!

5. Where Is My Tutors' Handbook?

The Tutors' Handbook and other teaching support materials that come with the Teaching Edition of the Tribal Groove DVD are on the DVD-ROM portion of the DVD. You can access these materials using your computer.

The Tutors' Handbook (including the lesson plans) and the Robot Nation play are in the Adobe PDF format, which can be viewed with the free Adobe Reader. You can print these materials as many times as you need (although please don't share them with other schools or groups – we've worked very hard to develop these materials).

The musical tracks are in the mp3 format which can be played using Apple's iTunes or any other mp3 player.

To access the extra materials:

  1. Place the DVD into your computer's DVD drive.
  2. Quit any DVD player software (if it starts automatically).
  3. Use Windows Explorer or your file browser to navigate to the DVD.
  4. Open the folder called "Teaching Materials".
  5. The teaching materials are in this folder.
  6. Double click on the Tutors' Handbook to open it with the Adobe Reader.
  7. Double click on the songs to open them in iTunes or your favourite MP3 player.

If you have any problems please get in touch and we'll send a printed version of the materials out to you.

6. Will The DVD Work In America / Australia / Africa / etc.?

Tribal Groove DVDs are multi-region PAL. They will work in Europe, Australia, Africa and most of Asia. Generally they cannot be played in North America unless you have a multi-system (PAL-NTSC) DVD player or you are using a computer to play the DVD. If you are not certain whether Tribal Groove will work with your DVD player and TV then please check with us.