The Temne people of Sierra Leone

The Temne people are one of the two largest ethnic groups in Sierra Leone, their neighbours the Mende people having roughly the same population. The Temne and Mende both account for slightly more than 30% of the total population. The Temne are predominantly found in the Nothern Province of the Western area, including the capital Freetown, while the Mende are found primarily in the Southern Province and the Eastern Province.

The Temne are rice farmers, fishermen, and traders. Temne culture revolves around the paramount chiefs, and the secret societies, especially the men's Poro society and the women's Bondo society. The most important Temne rituals focus on the coronation and funerals of paramount chiefs and the initiation of new secret society members. During the 16th, 17th, and 18th century hundreds of thousands of Temne were shipped to the Americas as slaves.

Today the Temnes are mostly Muslims who interweave Islamic beliefs with traditional African practices. About 15-20% of Temne are followers of Christianity.

This video shows a traditional Temne dance, and I think it's interesting to see the atmosphere created through music and movement. From this video I can see how the music is felt throughout their bodies, there is a collective energy and spirit and it's like a possession. The energy is passed through even when there's a switch of the person dancing, they interact with each other. I think when we open our play, this is the the type of energy and cultural atmosphere we should try and create, a lot of the movement is directed towards the ground like a summoning or praising and we should aim to re-create this sort of spiritual feeling, ultimately aiding us in immersing the audience within the world of our performance.