KAMPALA — A high-stepping dance routine by Uganda Peoples’ Defence Forces (UPDF) soldiers has triggered a lively debate online, with viewers divided between those celebrating the performance as a creative expression of Ugandan culture and those questioning whether such choreography belongs in a military drill.
The video circulating on social media shows UPDF personnel performing coordinated high-stepping movements as part of the Chief of Defence Forces Inter-Forces Drill Competition, being held at Kololo Ceremonial Grounds in Kampala from August 22 to 25.
More than 1,400 personnel representing over 40 teams from different UPDF branches, formations and units are taking part in the second edition of the competition.
The competition is being held under the theme “Precision, Discipline and Cohesion: Pillars of National Resilience and Transformation.”
But it is the soldiers’ more theatrical routines — combining military movements with music, dance, storytelling and changes in formation — that have attracted much of the attention online.
Some viewers have praised the choreography as evidence that military discipline does not necessarily have to be expressed through rigid ceremonial movements alone. Others have questioned whether dancing soldiers risk turning an institution associated with authority, discipline and combat readiness into a subject of international amusement.
The debate has also raised a broader question: is the military changing the way it presents itself to the public?
The UPDF says the creative elements are deliberate.
Col Henry Obbo, the Deputy Defence Public Information Officer, said the competition was expanded this year to include theme-based drills, synchronised displays, music, storytelling and dance alongside traditional military routines such as sword, crop-stick, pace-stick, cane-stick and foot drills.
“The new elements are intended to promote creativity and innovation while preserving the military traditions and values of the UPDF,” Obbo said.
The top five teams are expected to present freestyle displays blending military drill with Ugandan cultural heritage.
From discipline to performance
Military drill has historically served a practical purpose: synchronising large groups of soldiers, instilling discipline and obedience, and creating the visual impression of a force capable of moving as one.
But ceremonial drill has also always been theatre.
Armies march to music. Soldiers wear uniforms designed to communicate hierarchy. Parades are choreographed. Colours, formations, salutes and weapons are displayed before civilian audiences.
The UPDF’s experiment therefore raises an interesting question about where military discipline ends and performance begins.
The organisers say the cultural elements are intended to strengthen cohesion, creativity and the relationship between the armed forces and the public. The competition has grown considerably from its inaugural edition in May 2025, which involved 16 teams.
This year’s event brings together junior and senior officers, warrant officers and other ranks, with the competition culminating in awards for the best drill team, best drill commander and special recognition for innovation and cultural integration.
For supporters, the performances demonstrate something distinctly Ugandan: a military institution borrowing from the country’s traditions of rhythm, dance and storytelling without abandoning precision.
For critics, however, the question is not whether the soldiers can dance.
It is whether they should.
A military is judged partly by how it is perceived. If a carefully choreographed display strengthens public confidence and national pride, it serves one purpose. If the same display becomes viral footage used to mock the force, it produces another.
And social media has erased much of the distance between the parade ground and the world.
A performance designed for Kololo can be watched within minutes in Nairobi, London, Washington or elsewhere; the audience decides what it means.
The UPDF appears willing to take that risk.
The final question, then, may not be whether soldiers should dance. Soldiers have always performed.
It is whether a modern African military can remain disciplined, formidable and serious while also allowing itself to be unmistakably African.
That experiment is now playing out at Kololo.
