<P> The gumboot dance (or Isicathulo) is an African dance that is performed by dancers wearing wellington boots . In South Africa these are more commonly called gumboots . </P> <P> The boots may be embellished with bells, so that they ring as the dancers stamp on the ground . This sound would be a code or a different calling to say something to another person a short distance away . This was used to communicate in the mines as there was strictly no talking otherwise there would be severe, drastic punishments at the discretion of their superior . </P> <P> Rooted back in the dark gold mine tunnels of South Africa, gumboot dancing has come full circle . Initially a codified tap used by black miners deprived of conversation, gumboot dancing today is one of the most expressive South African dance genres . </P> <P> Gumboot dancers are commonly sighted on the streets and plazas of tourist areas in South Africa, such as the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront in Cape Town . Many of the steps and routines are parodies of the officers and guards who controlled the mines and barracks of South African gold miners . Like other forms of African dance, Gumboot utilizes the concepts of polyrhythm and total body articulation, drawing from the cultural dances of the African workers that manned the mines . It is a percussive dance made by idiophones or autophones (objects of the everyday life vibrating by themselves), and is similar in execution and style to forms of "stepping" done by African - American fraternities and sororities . </P>

Where does the gumboots dance come from and who originally danced it
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