African Dance
I. African dances are viewed in close connection with African Music because many African language do not have a word to define music.
A. African dances are instructional tools for the community to teach values and social patterns and celebrate the life-span events and festivals.
A. The most widely used musical instrument in Africa is the human voice.
1. Most nomadic groups do not use drums but in most villages throughout the continent the sound and rhythm express the mood of the people and is the sign of life and its beat is the heartbeat of the community.
2. In African communities, coming together in response to the beating of the drum gives members a sense of belonging and solidarity.
B. Traditional dance in Africa involves the community more than individual or couple dances. Dances are often segregated by gender with the men performing large body movements including jumping and leaping while women dance smaller movements.
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1. Musical training in African societies begins at birth with cradle songs and continues on the backs of relatives both at work and festivals and other social events. The sound of three beats against two is part of everyday life and helps to develop musicality.
2. Different parts of the body move with different rhythms in the music in African dance and sometimes there are added rhythms that are not in the music.
a. Dancers are able to switch back and forth between rhythms without missing a beat.
1. Dancers in Nigeria commonly combine at least two rhythms and the blending of three rhythms can be seen among highly skill dancers. Articulation of four rhythms is rare.
C. African dances are mostly participatory with spectators being part of the performance. Traditionally, there are no barriers between dancers and onlookers.
1. Close couple dancing was thought to be immoral in many traditional African
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societies and there doesn’t seem to be any evidence for sustained one on one male-female partnering. For partners to touch while dancing is not common except in special circumstances.
D. Master dancers and drummers are particular about the dance being learned exactly as it is taught without variation and improvisation comes only after mastering the dance, performing and receiving the appreciation of the spectators and the approval of the village elders.
E. Most African dances include drums, vocals and feet stamping. These represent the heartbeat of the tribe and to show emotions. The dances serve as rituals to ensure a good crop to grow tall and enough supply of water for the year.
F. Cultural Functions in African dance are to join in a diversified assembly and dancing is not to go into a trance but to come out of a trance and to be part of the whole.
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G. Types of African dances
1. Warrior dances
2. Dances of love are performed for special occasions such as weddings and anniversaries.
3. Rites of passage and coming of age dances
4. Dances of welcome
5. Dances of possession and summoning. Most of the other categories of African dance are similar to the tribal/primitive dance we have already studied. Dances of possession and summoning are common themes in African dance and very important in many Traditional African Religions. Their purpose is to call a spirit and these can be spirits of Plants or Forests, Ancestors or Deities. The dances are used to honor the spirits, ask for guidance or to appease the spirits if they are angry.
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