History Of Dance In Africa

  history of dance in africa: History Dances Ofosuwa M. Abiola, 2018-11-16 The field of history is founded on the interrogation of written documents from the past. However, culture is the center of life in Africa. As a result, in the past – and to a degree in the present – the process for documenting events in Africa was not written, it was performed. History Dances: Chronicling the History of Traditional Mandinka Dance argues that a wealth of information is housed within traditional Mandinka dance and, consequently, the dances can be used as an African-derived primary source for writing African history. Ofosuwa M. Abiola highlights the overall value of studying Mandinka dance history specifically, and African dance history generally, as well as addressing the issue of scarcity with regard to primary sources for writing African history. History Dances proves to be a vital read for both undergraduate students and scholars in the fields of dance history, African history, performance studies, and cultural anthropology.
  history of dance in africa: African Dance Kariamu Welsh-Asante, 2010 The ancient tradition of African dance has influenced dance styles all over the world. It is used to commemorate many annual ceremonies and activities, such as rites of passage and the harvest, and it is also an important form of recreation, religious expression, and storytelling. In African Dance, Second Edition, the varied cultures of Africa and their respective dances are explored, along with the effects that colonialism had on the art form.
  history of dance in africa: African Dance Kariamu Welsh-Asante, 1996 A collection of essays by distinguished writers, critics and artists which addresses the discipline of African dance both on the continent and in the wider Diaspora. Includes a contribution from the distinguished Jamaican choreographer Sir Rex Nettleford.
  history of dance in africa: Post-Apartheid Dance Sharon Friedman, 2013-01-16 The intention of this work is to present perspectives on post-apartheid dance in South Africa by South African authors. Beginning with an historical context for dance in SA, the book moves on to reflect the multiplicity of bodies, voices and stories suggested by the title. Given the diversity of conflicting realities experienced by artists in this country, contentious issues have deliberately been juxtaposed in an attempt to draw attention to the complexity of dancing on the ashes of apartheid. Although the focus is dance since 1994, all chapters are rooted in an historical analysis and offer a view of the field. This book is ground breaking as it is the first of its kind to speak of contemporary dance in South Africa and the first singular body of work to have emerged in any book form that attempts to provide a cohesive account of the range of voices within dance in post-apartheid South Africa. The book is scholarly in nature and has wide applications for colleges and universities, without alienating dance lovers or minds curious about dance in Africa. Mindful of its wide audience, the writing deliberately adopts an uncomplicated, reader-friendly tone, given the diversity of audiences including dance students, dance scholars, critics and general dance lovers that it will attract.
  history of dance in africa: Hot Feet and Social Change Kariamu Welsh, Esailama Diouf, Yvonne Daniel, 2019-12-23 The popularity and profile of African dance have exploded across the African diaspora in the last fifty years. Hot Feet and Social Change presents traditionalists, neo-traditionalists, and contemporary artists, teachers, and scholars telling some of the thousands of stories lived and learned by people in the field. Concentrating on eight major cities in the United States, the essays challenges myths about African dance while demonstrating its power to awaken identity, self-worth, and community respect. These voices of experience share personal accounts of living African traditions, their first encounters with and ultimate embrace of dance, and what teaching African-based dance has meant to them and their communities. Throughout, the editors alert readers to established and ongoing research, and provide links to critical contributions by African and Caribbean dance experts. Contributors: Ausettua Amor Amenkum, Abby Carlozzo, Steven Cornelius, Yvonne Daniel, Charles “Chuck” Davis, Esailama G. A. Diouf, Indira Etwaroo, Habib Iddrisu, Julie B. Johnson, C. Kemal Nance, Halifu Osumare, Amaniyea Payne, William Serrano-Franklin, and Kariamu Welsh
  history of dance in africa: Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance Jill Flanders Crosby, JT Torres, 2023-02-14 Using storytelling and performance to explore shared religious expression across continents Through a revolutionary ethnographic approach that foregrounds storytelling and performance as alternative means of knowledge, Situated Narratives and Sacred Dance explores shared ritual traditions between the Anlo-Ewe people of West Africa and their descendants, the Arará of Cuba, who were brought to the island in the transatlantic slave trade. The volume draws on two decades of research in four communities: Dzodze, Ghana; Adjodogou, Togo; and Perico and Agramonte, Cuba. In the ceremonies, oral narratives, and daily lives of individuals at each fieldsite, the authors not only identify shared attributes in religious expression across continents, but also reveal lasting emotional, spiritual, and personal impacts in the communities whose ancestors were ripped from their homeland and enslaved. The authors layer historiographic data, interviews, and fieldnotes with artistic modes such as true fiction, memoir, and choreographed narrative, challenging the conventional nature of scholarship with insights gained from sensorial experience. Including reflections on the making of an art installation based on this research project, the volume challenges readers to imagine the potential of approaching fieldwork as artists. The authors argue that creative methods can convey truths deeper than facts, pointing to new possibilities for collaboration between scientists and artists with relevance to any discipline. Publication of the paperback edition made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  history of dance in africa: Music and Dance Traditions of Ghana Paschal Yao Younge, 2024-10-17 The music and dance traditions of Ghana's four main ethnic groups are covered comprehensively in this book. It discusses concepts of music, dance and performance in general, and also goes into cultural perspectives, performance practices and the form and structure of 22 musical types or dance drumming ceremonies. As a guide to multicultural education, it provides teaching methods and components of curriculum development. Numerous photographs, maps, and musical scores generously illustrate the book.
  history of dance in africa: Steppin' on the Blues Jacqui Malone, 1996 Former dancer Jacqui Malone throws a fresh spotlight on the cultural history of black dance, the Africanisms that have influenced it, and the significant role that vocal harmony groups, black college and university marching bands, and black sorority and fraternity stepping teams have played in the evolution of dance in African American life.
  history of dance in africa: Dance and Society in Eastern Africa 1890–1970 T. O. Ranger, 2021-01-08 This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1975.
  history of dance in africa: African Dance with Passion Kukuwa Kyereboah-Nuamah, 2015-01-14 African Dance with Passion is a vibrant introduction to African dances from across the continent. The book breaks down the various dance techniques, educates students about the cultures that created the dances, and explains the meanings behind them. Students will learn the detailed choreography of ten different dances and become familiar with the elements, such as the use of a live drummer, that make African dance unique. The book helps students prepare mind and body for the dancing and introduces foundational techniques. It provides a template for dances that can be taught in classes and teaches readers the history of the various dance forms. African Dance with Passion makes the case for this spirited, energetic genre as both a form of art and a form of exercise that can bring health benefits and great joy to the participant. It is intended to accompany the curriculum of courses in beginning African dance. It can also be used as a supplemental reader for classes on African history or cultural studies.
  history of dance in africa: Dance of the Jakaranda Peter Kimani, 2017-02-07 “This funny, perceptive and ambitious work of historical fiction by a Kenyan poet and novelist explores his country’s colonial past and its legacy.” —The New York Times Book Review, Editors’ Choice Set in the shadow of Kenya’s independence from Great Britain, Dance of the Jakaranda reimagines the special circumstances that brought black, brown and white men together to lay the railroad that heralded the birth of the nation. The novel traces the lives and loves of three men—preacher Richard Turnbull, the colonial administrator Ian McDonald, and Indian technician Babu Salim—whose lives intersect when they are implicated in the controversial birth of a child. Years later, when Babu’s grandson Rajan—who ekes out a living by singing Babu’s epic tales of the railway’s construction—accidentally kisses a mysterious stranger in a dark nightclub, the encounter provides the spark to illuminate the three men’s shared, murky past. With its riveting multiracial, multicultural cast and diverse literary allusions, Dance of the Jakaranda could well be a story of globalization. Yet the novel is firmly anchored in the African oral storytelling tradition, its language a dreamy, exalted, and earthy mix that creates new thresholds of identity, providing a fresh metaphor for race in contemporary Africa. “Destined to become one of the greats . . . This is not hyperbole: it’s a masterpiece.” —The Gazette “A fascinating part of Kenya’s history, real and imagined, is revealed and reclaimed by one of its own.” —Minneapolis Star Tribune “Kimani’s novel has an impressive breadth and scope.” —Los Angeles Review of Books “Highlighted by its exquisite voice, Kimani’s novel is a standout debut.” —Publishers Weekly “Lyrical and powerful.” —Kirkus Reviews
  history of dance in africa: Breadth of Bodies Emmaly Wiederholt, Silva Laukkanen, 2022-03 Breadth of Bodies seeks to investigate and dismantle the language and stereotypes often used to describe professional dancers with disabilities. Spearheaded by dancer/writer Emmaly Wiederholt and dance educator Silva Laukkanen with illustrations by visual artist Liz Brent-Maldonado, the team collected interviews with 35 professional dance artists with disabilities from 15 countries, asking about training, access, and press, as well as looking at the state of the field.
  history of dance in africa: Umfundalai Kariamu Welsh-Asante, 1997 Umfundalai, a Kiswahili word meaning essence or essential, is now also the name of an innovative dance technique discovered and developed by the author of this book to enable anyone to perform traditional African dances. In 1970-71, as an eager young student, the author set about organizing the complex multiplicity of rhythms and movements displayed in the various traditional dances still practiced in rural villages throughout the continent of Africa. In the process, she isolated the elements essential to all African dances: the circle (the earliest form of dance, symbol of the unified whole); repetition (a necessary extension of rhythm); rattling and ululation (natural accompaniments of rhythm). She also discovered their wider, social and political symbolism; the unique power inherent in rhythm; the responsibilities inherent in leadership and control; and the political and moral standards inherent in human society. Then, after a crucial, challenging encounter with a master teacher of dance, she delved deeply into the histories, the arts, and the philosophies of successive African civilizations-Pharaonic, Sudanese, Colonial, Diasporic, Post-Colonial, Pre-Independent, and Independent. Now, from the crucible of time and one woman's personal voyage of discovery, there has emerged not only a fresh and vibrant vehicle for the self-expression of a people, but also a powerful political and moral instrument of immense contemporary impact. Umfundalai not only mirrors the rich and variegated African dance aesthetic...it not only incarnates a wealth of African history, philosophy, and art...it actually serves and empowers the dancer, the artist, and the audience by invoking the communal powerof African dance to stimulate political and social action. More than a technique, Umfundalai is an organic and exhilarating series of rhythms, movements, and sounds that affirms life's passages (birth, marriage, death, rebirth, etc.), celebrates a holistic system of beliefs and values, and salutes the universal and unifying life force that is Africa's most precious resource.
  history of dance in africa: African Music, Power, and Being in Colonial Zimbabwe Mhoze Chikowero, 2015-11-24 In this new history of music in Zimbabwe, Mhoze Chikowero deftly uses African sources to interrogate the copious colonial archive, reading it as a confessional voice along and against the grain to write a complex history of music, colonialism, and African self-liberation. Chikowero's book begins in the 1890s with missionary crusades against African performative cultures and African students being inducted into mission bands, which contextualize the music of segregated urban and mining company dance halls in the 1930s, and he builds genealogies of the Chimurenga music later popularized by guerrilla artists like Dorothy Masuku, Zexie Manatsa, Thomas Mapfumo, and others in the 1970s. Chikowero shows how Africans deployed their music and indigenous knowledge systems to fight for their freedom from British colonial domination and to assert their cultural sovereignty.
  history of dance in africa: African Dance in Ghana Francis Nii-Yartey, 2016 In eight chapters, the author guides the reader through the history of dance in Ghana and West Africa: from the traditional dances at special occasions to contemporary performances in Ghana and elsewhere. The book is illustrated with photos, sketches and explanatory diagrams.--Book jacket.
  history of dance in africa: Dance and politics Dana Mills, 2016-11-28 This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. This book examines the political power of dance, particularly its transgressive potential. Focusing on readings of dance pioneers Isadora Duncan and Martha Graham, Gumboots dancers in the gold mines of South Africa, the One Billion Rising movement, dabke in Palestine and dance as a protest against human rights abuse in Israel, the book explores moments in which the form succeeds in transgressing politics as articulated in words. Close readings and critical analysis grounded in radical democratic theory combine to show how interpreting political dance as 'interruption' can unsettle conceptions of both politics and dance.
  history of dance in africa: African Dance with Passion Kukuwa Kyereboah-Nuamah, 2014-12-31
  history of dance in africa: Sonidos Negros K. Meira Goldberg, 2019 How is the politics of Blackness figured in the flamenco dancing body? What does flamenco dance tell us about the construction of race in the Atlantic world? Sonidos Negros traces how, in the span between 1492 and 1933, the vanquished Moor became Black, and how this figure, enacted in terms of a minstrelized Gitano, paradoxically came to represent Spain itself. The imagined Gypsy about which flamenco imagery turns dances on a knife's edge delineating Christian and non-Christian, White and Black worlds. This figure's subversive teetering undermines Spain's symbolic linkage of religion with race, a prime weapon of conquest. Flamenco's Sonidos Negros live in this precarious balance, amid the purposeful confusion and ruckus cloaking embodied resistance, the lament for what has been lost, and the values and aspirations of those rendered imperceptible by enslavement and colonization.
  history of dance in africa: Moving History/Dancing Cultures Ann Dils, Ann Cooper Albright, 2013-06-01 This new collection of essays surveys the history of dance in an innovative and wide-ranging fashion. Editors Dils and Albright address the current dearth of comprehensive teaching material in the dance history field through the creation of a multifaceted, non-linear, yet well-structured and comprehensive survey of select moments in the development of both American and World dance. This book is illustrated with over 50 photographs, and would make an ideal text for undergraduate classes in dance ethnography, criticism or appreciation, as well as dance history—particularly those with a cross-cultural, contemporary, or an American focus. The reader is organized into four thematic sections which allow for varied and individualized course use: Thinking about Dance History: Theories and Practices, World Dance Traditions, America Dancing, and Contemporary Dance: Global Contexts. The editors have structured the readings with the understanding that contemporary theory has thoroughly questioned the discursive construction of history and the resultant canonization of certain dances, texts and points of view. The historical readings are presented in a way that encourages thoughtful analysis and allows the opportunity for critical engagement with the text. Ebook Edition Note: Ebook edition note: Five essays have been redacted, including “The Belly Dance: Ancient Ritual to Cabaret Performance,” by Shawna Helland; “Epitome of Korean Folk Dance”, by Lee Kyong-Hee; “Juba and American Minstrelsy,” by Marian Hannah Winter; “The Natural Body,” by Ann Daly; and “Butoh: ‘Twenty Years Ago We Were Crazy, Dirty, and Mad’,”by Bonnie Sue Stein. Eleven of the 41 illustrations in the book have also been redacted.
  history of dance in africa: African History: A Very Short Introduction John Parker, Richard Rathbone, 2007-03-22 Intended for those interested in the African continent and the diversity of human history, this work looks at Africa's past and reflects on the changing ways it has been imagined and represented. It illustrates key themes in modern thinking about Africa's history with a range of historical examples.
  history of dance in africa: A History of African Popular Culture Karin Barber, 2018-01-11 A journey through the history of African popular culture from the seventeenth century to the present day.
  history of dance in africa: Dancing Wisdom Yvonne Daniel, 2005 Landmark interdisciplinary study of religious systems through their dance performances
  history of dance in africa: Tranceformations and Transformations Sylvia Glasser, 2019
  history of dance in africa: National Rhythms, African Roots John Charles Chasteen, 2004 John Chasteen examines the history behind sexually suggestive dances (salsa, samba, and tango) that brought people of different social classes and races together in Latin America.
  history of dance in africa: Dance History Janet Adshead-Lansdale, June Layson, 2006-05-18 Originally published in 1983 the first edition rapidly established itself as a core student text. Now fully revised and up-dated it remains the only book to address the rationale, process, techniques and methodologies specific to the study of dance history. For the main body of the text which covers historical studies of dance in its traditional and performance contexts, the editors have brought together a team of internationally known dance historians. Roger Copeland and Deborah Jowitt each take a controversial look at the modern American dance. Kenneth Archer and Millicent Hodson explain the processes they use when reconstructing 'lost' ballets, and Theresa Buckland and Georgina Gore write on traditional dance in England and West Africa respectively. With other contributions on social dance, ballet, early European modern dance and feminist perspectives on dance history this book offers a multitude of starting points for studying dance history as well as presenting examples of dance writing at its very best. Dance History will be an essential purchase for all students of dance.
  history of dance in africa: Drumbeat in Our Feet Patricia A. Keeler, Júlio T. Leitão, 2014-04-15 Informative passages and lyrical verse explore the history and rhythmic qualities of traditional African dance as performed long ago and today. Note about Harlem-based African dance troupe Batoto Yetu, photographs, and map in backmatter--Provided by publisher.
  history of dance in africa: History of Dance Gayle Kassing, 2017-06-22 History of Dance, Second Edition, offers readers a panoramic view of dance from prehistory to the present. The text covers the dance forms, designs, artists, costumes, performing spaces, and accompaniments throughout the centuries and around the globe. Its investigative approach engages students in assignments and web projects that reinforce the learning from the text, and its ancillaries for both teachers and students make it easy for students to perceive, create, and respond to the history of dance. New to This Edition History of Dance retains its strong foundations from the first edition while adding these new and improved features: • An instructor guide with media literacy assignments, teaching tips, strategies for finding historical videos, and more • A test bank with hundreds of questions for creating tests and quizzes • A presentation package with hundreds of slides that present key points and graphics • A web resource with activities, extensions of chapter content, annotated links to useful websites, and study aids • Developing a Deeper Perspective assignments that encourage students to use visual or aesthetic scanning, learn and perform period dances, observe and write performance reports, develop research projects and WebQuests (Internet-based research projects), and participate in other learning activities • Experiential learning activities that help students dig deeper into the history of dance, dancers, and significant dance works and literature • Eye-catching full-color interior that adds visual appeal and brings the content to life Also new to this edition is a chapter entitled “Global Interactions: 2000–2016,” which examines dance in the 21st century. Resources and Activities The web resources and experiential learning activities promote student-centered learning and help students develop critical thinking and investigative skills.Teachers can use the experiential learning activities as extended projects to help apply the information and to use technology to make the history of dance more meaningful. Three Parts History of Dance is presented in three parts. Part I covers early dance history, beginning with prehistoric times and moving through ancient civilizations in Greece, Crete, Egypt, and Rome and up to the Renaissance. Part II explores dance from the Renaissance to the 20th century, including a chapter on dance in the United States from the 17th through 19th centuries. Part III unfolds the evolution of American dance from the 20th century to the present, examining imported influences, emerging modern dance and ballet, and new directions for both American ballet and modern dance. Chapters Each chapter focuses on the dancers and choreographers, the dances, and significant dance works and literature from the time period. Students will learn how dance design has changed through the ages and how new dance genres, forms, and styles have emerged and continue to emerge. The chapters also include special features, such as History Highlight sidebars and Time Capsule charts, to help students place dancers, events, and facts in their proper context and perspective. Vocabulary words appear at the end of each chapter, as do questions that prompt review of the chapter’s important information. The text is reader-friendly and current, and it is supported by the national standards in dance, arts education, social studies, and technology education. Through History of Dance, students will acquire a well-rounded view of dance from the dawn of time to the present day. This influential text offers students a foundation for understanding and a springboard for studying dance in the 21st century.
  history of dance in africa: Dance and Society in Eastern Africa 1890–1970 T. O. Ranger, 2023-04-28 This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1975.
  history of dance in africa: West African Drumming and Dance in North American Universities George Worlasi Kwasi Dor, 2014-02-20 More than twenty universities and twenty other colleges in North America (USA and Canada) offer performance courses on West African ethnic dance drumming. Since its inception in 1964 at both UCLA and Columbia, West African drumming and dance has gradually developed into a vibrant campus subculture in North America. The dances most practiced in the American academy come from the ethnic groups Ewe, Akan, Ga, Dagbamba, Mande, and Wolof, thereby privileging dances mostly from Ghana, Togo, Benin, Senegal, Mali, Guinea, and Burkina Faso. This strong presence and practice of a world music ensemble in the diaspora has captured and engaged the interest of scholars, musicians, dancers, and audiences. In the first-ever ethnographic study of West African drumming and dance in North American universities, the author documents and acknowledges ethnomusicologists, ensemble directors, students, administrators, and academic institutions for their key roles in the histories of their respective ensembles. Dor collates and shares perspectives including debates on pedagogical approaches that may be instructive as models for both current and future ensemble directors and reveals the multiple impacts that participation in an ensemble or class offers students. He also examines the interplay among historically situated structures and systems, discourse, and practice, and explores the multiple meanings that individuals and various groups of people construct from this campus activity. The study will be of value to students, directors, and scholars as an ethnographic study and as a text for teaching relevant courses in African music, African studies, ethnomusicology/world music, African diaspora studies, and other related disciplines.
  history of dance in africa: African Art in Motion Robert Farris Thompson, 1979-01-01
  history of dance in africa: Dance Circles Hélène Neveu Kringelbach, 2013-11-01 Senegal has played a central role in contemporary dance due to its rich performing traditions, as well as strong state patronage of the arts, first under French colonialism and later in the postcolonial era. In the 1980s, when the Senegalese economy was in decline and state fundingwithdrawn, European agencies used the performing arts as a tool in diplomacy. This had a profound impact on choreographic production and arts markets throughout Africa. In Senegal, choreographic performers have taken to contemporary dance, while continuing to engage with neo-traditional performance, regional genres like the sabar, and the popular dances they grew up with. A historically informed ethnography of creativity, agency, and the fashioning of selves through the different life stages in urban Senegal, this book explores the significance of this multiple engagement with dance in a context of economic uncertainty and rising concerns over morality in the public space.
  history of dance in africa: Rooted Jazz Dance Lindsay Guarino, Carlos R.A. Jones, Wendy Oliver, 2022-02-01 National Dance Education Organization Ruth Lovell Murray Book Award UNCG | Susan W. Stinson Book Award for Dance Education An African American art form, jazz dance has an inaccurate historical narrative that often sets Euro-American aesthetics and values at the inception of the jazz dance genealogy. The roots were systemically erased and remain widely marginalized and untaught, and the devaluation of its Africanist origins and lineage has largely gone unchallenged. Decolonizing contemporary jazz dance practice, this book examines the state of jazz dance theory, pedagogy, and choreography in the twenty-first century, recovering and affirming the lifeblood of jazz in Africanist aesthetics and Black American culture. Rooted Jazz Dance brings together jazz dance scholars, practitioners, choreographers, and educators from across the United States and Canada with the goal of changing the course of practice in future generations. Contributors delve into the Africanist elements within jazz dance and discuss the role of Whiteness, including Eurocentric technique and ideology, in marginalizing African American vernacular dance, which has resulted in the prominence of Eurocentric jazz styles and the systemic erosion of the roots. These chapters offer strategies for teaching rooted jazz dance, examples for changing dance curricula, and artist perspectives on choreographing and performing jazz. Above all, they emphasize the importance of centering Africanist and African American principles, aesthetics, and values. Arguing that the history of jazz dance is closely tied to the history of racism in the United States, these essays challenge a century of misappropriation and lean into difficult conversations of reparations for jazz dance. This volume overcomes a major roadblock to racial justice in the dance field by amplifying the people and culture responsible for the jazz language. Contributors: LaTasha Barnes | Lindsay Guarino | Natasha Powell | Carlos R.A. Jones | Rubim de Toledo | Kim Fuller | Wendy Oliver | Joanne Baker | Karen Clemente | Vicki Adams Willis | Julie Kerr-Berry | Pat Taylor | Cory Bowles | Melanie George | Paula J Peters | Patricia Cohen | Brandi Coleman | Kimberley Cooper | Monique Marie Haley | Jamie Freeman Cormack | Adrienne Hawkins | Karen Hubbard | Lynnette Young Overby | Jessie Metcalf McCullough | E. Moncell Durden Publication of this work made possible by a Sustaining the Humanities through the American Rescue Plan grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
  history of dance in africa: Apollo's Angels Jennifer Homans, 2010-11-02 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW, LOS ANGELES TIMES, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, AND PUBLISHERS WEEKLY For more than four hundred years, the art of ballet has stood at the center of Western civilization. Its traditions serve as a record of our past. Lavishly illustrated and beautifully told, Apollo’s Angels—the first cultural history of ballet ever written—is a groundbreaking work. From ballet’s origins in the Renaissance and the codification of its basic steps and positions under France’s Louis XIV (himself an avid dancer), the art form wound its way through the courts of Europe, from Paris and Milan to Vienna and St. Petersburg. In the twentieth century, émigré dancers taught their art to a generation in the United States and in Western Europe, setting off a new and radical transformation of dance. Jennifer Homans, a historian, critic, and former professional ballerina, wields a knowledge of dance born of dedicated practice. Her admiration and love for the ballet, as Entertainment Weekly notes, brings “a dancer’s grace and sure-footed agility to the page.”
  history of dance in africa: The Dance of Africa Lee Warren, 1972 Describes many African dances and discusses their origins and their significance as a reflection of almost every aspect of African life.
  history of dance in africa: A History of Theatre in Africa Martin Banham, 2004-05-13 This book aims to offer a broad history of theatre in Africa. The roots of African theatre are ancient and complex and lie in areas of community festival, seasonal rhythm and religious ritual, as well as in the work of popular entertainers and storytellers. Since the 1950s, in a movement that has paralleled the political emancipation of so much of the continent, there has also grown a theatre that comments back from the colonized world to the world of the colonists and explores its own cultural, political and linguistic identity. A History of Theatre in Africa offers a comprehensive, yet accessible, account of this long and varied chronicle, written by a team of scholars in the field. Chapters include an examination of the concepts of 'history' and 'theatre'; North Africa; Francophone theatre; Anglophone West Africa; East Africa; Southern Africa; Lusophone African theatre; Mauritius and Reunion; and the African diaspora.
  history of dance in africa: Mama Africa Patricia de Santana Pinho, 2010-01-25 An examination of the meanings of blackness in the Brazilian state of Bahia, which is often called the most African part of Brazil.
  history of dance in africa: West African Masking Traditions and Diaspora Masquerade Carnivals Raphael Chijioke Njoku, 2020-06-23 A revisionist account of African masquerade carnivals in transnational context that offers readers a unique perspective on the connecting threads between African cultural trends and African American cultural artifacts
  history of dance in africa: Slave Songs of the United States William Francis Allen, Charles Pickard Ware, Lucy McKim Garrison, 1996 Originally published in 1867, this book is a collection of songs of African-American slaves. A few of the songs were written after the emancipation, but all were inspired by slavery. The wild, sad strains tell, as the sufferers themselves could, of crushed hopes, keen sorrow, and a dull, daily misery, which covered them as hopelessly as the fog from the rice swamps. On the other hand, the words breathe a trusting faith in the life after, to which their eyes seem constantly turned.
  history of dance in africa: When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance Claude Boucher, Gary J. Morgan, 2012 When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance is an introduction to the diversity and drama that is the gule wamkulu, the 'great dance, ' of the Chewa people of Malawi. Covering 200 characters bedecked in mask and costume or woven structure, the book reveals not only the physical variety of the characters but also analyzes their songs, dances, and often codified messages that are delivered through word and action. It is through the dancers of the gule wamkulu that the ancestors communicate with the living and give instructions on how to abide by the code of moral conduct, the mwambo. It is also through the great dance that we can glean intimate insight into the values and worldview of the Chewa. Illustrated throughout with color photographs and original artwork, When Animals Sing and Spirits Dance is a lively interpretation of the great dance, told very much in the voice of the Chewa themselves. The songs are interpreted in both Chichewa and English, with appropriate recognition that direct representation is often impossible. The gule wamkulu was declared a masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2005. This book is a worthy entrée to the majesty, spectacle, and spirituality that is the great dance.
  history of dance in africa: Soulstepping Elizabeth Calvert Fine, 2003 Stepping is a complex performance that melds folk traditions with popular culture and involves synchronized percussive movement, singing, speaking, chanting, and drama. Elizabeth C. Fine's stunningly elaborate and vibrant portrayal of the cultural politics of stepping draws on interviews with individuals on college campuses and steppers and stepping coaches from high schools, community groups, churches, and dance organizations. Soulstepping is the first book to document the history of stepping, its roots in African and African American culture, and its transformation by churches, schools, and social groups into a powerful tool for instilling group identity and community involvement.
Understanding African Dance in Context: Perspectives from Ghana
Africa, through the lens of their early anthropologists, significantly misunderstood African dance and often used foreign tools to measure it leading to the ignorance of its intrinsic elements. …

AFRICAN DANCE: AN ARTISTIC, HISTORICAL AND …
Africa. Ajayi argues that dance in Africa, as both a sign and a vehicle of communication, provided a vital traditional means for establishing commerce between the human community and sacred …

‘Dance in Africa and beyond: creativity and Identity in a globalised …
African dance expressions in their plurality, showing how they creatively shape social realities within and beyond Africa. In the editorial of a special issue of Africa Today, Daniel Reed (2001) …

PHILOSOPHY AND DANCE IN AFRICA - JSTOR
Primus and Asadata Dafora to revolutionize the thinking of Ameri-cans by performing the dances of Africa. This article examines the attitudes of two key African philoso-phers of the …

African Dance Forms: Introduction - movement angol
History: Dance is one of those rare human activities which simultaneously reconcile heart, body and spirit. Dance has existed since the beginning of time and images of dance have been …

Africa's New Traditional Dance - JSTOR
Today, African traditional dance in most parts of the continent has lost its key position in society. Why has this change occurred? The answer, simply, is that African traditional dance performed …

The Creation of Traditional African Dance/Music Integrated Scores
In this article, I discuss Greenotation, a system for notating percussion instruments for African dance, focusing on its history of its development presenting personal and cultural histories, and …

The Place of Music and Dance in the Reconstruction of African
In tracing the evolution, development and continuity of the Gusii songs and dances, the study illuminates and documents the cultural aspects of Kenya’s history often neglected by historians.

Oral History of DanceAfrica, D.C. Transcript
Melvin Deal reflects on his work preforming, choreographing, managing, and promoting African dance, which he has been involved in for over half a century. He speaks about how when he …

The Impact of Colonisation on the Ability to Make a Meaning of …
interpretations of African Black dance. The beauty in dance can be found in the fluidity and ambiguity of the art form. It can be a form of self expression, a vessel to send a message, a …

Dance History: An Introduction, Second Edition
Originally published in 1983, the first edition of Dance History rapidly established itself as a core student text. Now fully revised and updated it remains the only book to address the rationale, …

The emergence of contemporary dance in Africa. A history of …
This essay focuses on the history of the Danse l’Afrique danse! biennale. Created by the French Cultural Cooperation in 1995, this festival is now considered the most important pan-African …

What is Contemporary Dance in Africa? - eScholarship
African dance as widely varied, challenging colonial generalizations This documentary reveals the differences and nuances within each contemporary artist, as well as their unique approaches to …

Dancing with literature: An overview of South African ballroom …
Dancing through South Africa’s history’s pages There is a variety of material available on ballroom dancing. This includes books and articles as well as archival, audio-visual and oral sources. …

AFRICAN DANCE: AN ARTISTIC, HISTORICAL AND …
As traditional African dance evolved, particularly in the Americas, it has undergone a transformation from its inextric-able connection to religion into forms which are quite secular. …

in Southern Africa Indigenous languages, dance and music …
Language, dance, and music can be regarded as repositories and organic inventory systems for the Indigenous living heritage, as the social-cultural values are primarily embodied in the …

DANCE AND SOCIETY IN EASTERN AFRICA, 1890-1970: THE - JSTOR
Dance and Society in Eastern Africa is a most unusual volume, one that grapples with the realities of the colonial experience for East Africans by focusing upon a single social phenomenon, an …

Gumboots A History - Toot Hill School
Gumboot dancing has developed into a working class, South African art form with a universal appeal. The dancers expand upon traditional steps, with the addition of contemporary …

The State Theatre Dance Company and the shaping of …
Contemporary dance of the past decade was multicultural and indigenous; politically conscious, provocative, and popular. Already in 1992, Dr. Fred Hagemann, chairman of the Dance …

ENTERING THE BALLROOM: A HISTORY OF BALLROOM DANCING …
The present article will present an overview of the early history of ballroom dancing in South Africa. It will consider who was involved in ballroom dancing and will focus on those who …

South African Gumboot Dance - Toot Hill School
Gumboot dance is now a popular art form performed worldwide to entertain and pass on elements of South African history to new generations and other cultures. Like many folkloric art forms, it is adapted to the modern contexts in which it is performed. The following is a translation of a song that is sung with Gumboot dance. The rich

“The Clave Comes Home”: Salsa Dance and Pan-African ... - JSTOR
dance.4 Salsa dance is just as much a “mixture of mixtures” as the music it celebrates. The distinctive steps and styles that make up salsa as a dance complex have been shaped by and reflect a long history of European, African, American, and …

This Is Not a Book About African Dance - Springer
At this moment I began to question definitions of African dance and the meaning of the contemporary in the making of dance theatre works touring international festivals. I focused my attention predominantly on Germany, France, but also the UK, Canada, South Africa and the US. As curator Simon Dove wrote in his introduction to the festival ...

FROM TRANCE DANCE TO PaR: THEATRE AND PERFORMANCE STUDIES IN SOUTH AFRICA
FROM TRANCE DANCE TO PaR 173 However, F.C.L. Bosman™s monumental 1928 history of drama and theatre in South Africa (1652-1855) can be called, with some justification, the first true piece of theatre research on South African theatre.8 The result of formidable historical detective work based on a

THE EVOLUTION OF AFRICAN POLITICAL THOUGHT AND …
The representatives demanded strongly and clearly autonomy and independence of Africa.ii B–The Move to Africa In 1958, in Accra, Ghana's capital, the independent African states at the time (excluding South Africa) three of them belong to …

Emerging trends from indigenous music and dance practices : a …
InDIGenoUS MUSIC AnD DAnCe PrACtICeS: A GLIMPSe Into ConteMPorAr Y MALenDe AnD tSHIGoMBeLA Ndwamato George Mugovhani Department of Performing Arts tshwane University of technology mugovhaning@tut.ac.za ABStrACt Past research into the history, state, function and performance contexts

African Civilizations: From The Pre-Colonial to the Modern Day
People have lived in Africa for more than three million years, and thus it possesses a rich and varied history. On one hand, Africa is widely believed to be the birthplace of modern human beings and is where some of the world’s greatest civilizations, such as the Egyptian and Nubian societies, emerged. On the other hand, this history includes the

AFRICAN DANCE: AN ARTISTIC, HISTORICAL AND …
Africa. Ajayi argues that dance in Africa, as both a sign and a vehicle of communication, provided a vital traditional means for establishing commerce between the human community and sacred realities. When Christian missionaries came to Africa, they brought with them a Western attitude which Ajayi labels as ‘anti-body’ and hence as ‘anti ...

The Functional Role of Traditional Music and Dance - ResearchGate
In Africa, traditional music and dance are used to edify, ridicule, caution, entertain, heal, and connect an individual to the ancestral world, among other things. 7 Similarly, music and dance are ...

Afro-Latin dance as reconstructive gestural discourse: the …
The Afro-Latin dance known as ‘salsa’ is a fusion of multiple dances from West Africa, Muslim Spain, enslaved communities in the Caribbean, and the United States. In part due to its global origins, salsa was pivotal in the development of the Figuration philosophy of …

The Status of African Dance Studies - JSTOR
E. Evans-Pritchard, 'The Dance', Africa, i, the University of California at Los Angeles, includes October 1928, pp. 446-62. some dances from Ghana in her ethnic dance practi-2 During the I965 Spring Quarter, I taught a cum course. lecture-practicum course on African dance at Michi- 3 These were held at Oberlin College, 1964;

THE ORIGINS OF MODERN JAZZ DANCE - JSTOR
It all began in Africa. History tells us that many Africans were taken from their homeland, the West Coast and lower coast-line of Africa, and by force were taken to the West Indies, South and Central Amer-ica as well as the United States. If, then, we look at the culture of those forced from their homeland, we discover the beginning.

Rainmaking rituals: Song and dance for climate change in the …
Song and dance for climate change in the making of livelihoods in Africa Mokua Ombati Mokua Ombati is a research fellow affiliated to the Department of Anthropology and Human Ecology of Moi University, Kenya. He also creates time to teach part-time at local universities. His research interests are focused in the

THE MUSIC OF THE DANCE: A STUDY OF MUSIC AND DANCE IN …
lens, the paper discusses the interrelationship of music and dance, and how the thin line of distinction is seen in efforts to explain their similarities and differences. Ultimately, the paper provides a framework towards a better understanding of music and dance as a phenomenon in Africa. Keywords: Music. Dance. African Culture.

DANCE AND SOCIETY IN EASTERN AFRICA, 1890-1970: THE - JSTOR
DANCE AND SOCIETY IN EASTERN AFRICA, 1890-1970: THE BENI NGOMA. By Terence 0. Ranger. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1975. Pp. xiii, 176. Dance and Society in Eastern Africa is a most unusual volume, one that grapples with the realities of the colonial experience for East Africans

WOMEN OF IMPACT: Inspiring Stories of African Women Leaders
Women’s leadership in Africa is not a new phenomenon. Throughout Africa’s history, women have been critical problem solvers, leading militaries during the pre-colonial period, freedom fighters during independence movements, transitional leaders during post-conflict periods, and leaders during some of the worst economic, political, and

MILESTONES IN DANCE HISTORY - api.pageplace.de
Designed for weekly use in dance history courses, ten chosen milestones move chronologically from the earliest indigenous rituals and the dance ... ing the forced migrations of slavery from West Africa to the Americas, the exchange of culture and commerce along the ancient trade routes of the Silk Road, artistic shifts that ...

Historical Writing in Postcolonial Africa: The Institutional Context
The professional writing of history in Africa—that is, the work of university-based scholars—began in earnest during the 1950s.4 In the aftermath of World War Two, the British Empire began to transform many of its local technical colleges into more wide-ranging tertiary institutions. Known as the “Asquith Colleges,” these included Gordon

THE HISTORY OF MODERN DANCE - The Institute for Arts …
THE HISTORY OF MODERN DANCE Ballet Austin’s Michelle Thompson and Frank Shott Compiled and edited by Pei‐San Brown, Community Education Director, Ballet Austin‐ The Pioneers of Modern Dance Modern Dance was born in America during the turn of the 20th century when a number of choreographers and dancers rebelled against

HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA (PAPER IV) - Digital Teachers Uganda
The history of South Africa covers the republic of South Africa, Swaziland, Lesotho, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe and part of Angola. However, reference is even made on part of central Africa and South Africa. In South Africa, relief determined …

The Prehistory of Samba: Carnival Dancing in Rio de Janeiro, 1840 …
Standard accounts of the history of samba tend to elide the dance with the music. The specific musical genre now called samba - in a syncopated 2/4 time, played by strings and percussion, with a well-defined style and ... Africa no Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 1983), pp. 54, 8o; Alencar, 0 carnaval carioca, p. 58. 3 2 John Charles Chasteen

Segregation and Apartheid in Twentieth-Century South Africa
Segregation and apartheid in twentieth-century South Africa/edited by William Beinart and Saul Dubow. p. cm.—(Rewriting histories) Includes bibliographical references. 1. Apartheid—South Africa. 2. South Africa—Race relations. 3. South Africa—History—1909–1961. 4. South Africa— History—1960– I. Beinart, William. II. Dubow ...

ATF 3M: Background information on West Africa and West African Dance
The Spirit's Dance in Africa: Evolution, Transformation, and Continuity in Sub-Sahara Author: Esther A. Dagan ... 978-1-896371-01-6 MALI AND SENEGAL: Mandeng and Wolof - Cultural traditions, history and stories are kept in the form of music and dance, containing elements of history or metaphorical statements that carry and pass on the culture ...

Revealing the African Roots of Argentine Tango - JSTOR
as musicology and dance history. Tango is the calling card of one of the great cities on the planet, and its history charts a complex route from Central Africa and Europe to South America. Prepare for quite a journey. Thompson begins with the central claims that "African and

The Cultural Heritage of South Africa’s Khoisan - Brill
The Cape Herders – A History of the Khoikhoi of Southern Africa (David Philip 1996), 52-56. 4 W. Boezak, Struggle of an Ancient Faith – the Khoisan of South Africa (Bidvest Data 2016), 40. 5 V.C. Malherbe, ‘The Khoi Captains in the Third Frontier War’ in S. Newton and V.C. Mal-

The Place of Music and Dance in the Reconstruction of African
dance among the Gusii have traditional roots as serves as a source of understanding the cultural history of the community. Indeed, without knowledge of a community’s cultural history, the historical destiny cannot be easily comprehended. This history makes it one of the most essential genres that the Gusii community’s ethnographic studies.

The Complete History of Square Dancing (Abridged)
9 Sep 2021 · The Complete History of Square Dancing (Abridged) Resources Tony Parkes – FAC September 9, 2021 ... Long story short, the dance formations and movements are European and the calls are African. Two major strains in SD history – court & country (but similar in having groups of couples doing figures)

African American Males in Dance, Music, Theater, and Film - JSTOR
in the areas of dance, theater, film, and music. As a child of two worlds-Africa and America-the African American male has been influenced by the vitality of the American and African cultures and experiences in creating a unique entertainment history. DANCE The beginnings of African Ameri-can dance are as rough and old as the

Sexuality, Africa, History
decades, the Journal of the History of Sexuality published but three articles and two book reviews on Africa south of the Sahara; Leila J. Rupp mentions Africa once in passing in her call for a global history of same-sex sexuality. In other cases, attempts to include Africa involve extrapolation from local cultures in specific historical con

104 6. the growth of Community dance in Britain
The history of Dance in Britain is for the most part written from the perspective of its evolution as a theatrical art form, the migration of various dance forms and approaches to dance making through the efforts of artists, producers and benefactors into Britain and on to the stage. The history of community dance conversely, is the story of how

The Kilumi Rain Dance in Modern Kenya - jpanafrican.org
Department of Political Science and History University of Texas at Tyler Mickie Mwanzia Koster (mkoster@uttlyer.edu) is an Assistant Professor of African and World ... expressions are often generalized as “black dance”. 2 For centuries, Africans in Africa and the Diaspora have used dance ritual traditions to manage their ever-changing ...

Oral history: Heritage and identity - uir.unisa.ac.za
(re)constructions(s) and (re)configuration(s) of oral history Celebration of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of Indian indentured labourers in South Africa: “unsung heroes” 75-87 Shobana Singh (Kharina Secondary School, Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal) The content, handling and role of oral history in the

The Origins of Dance: The Perspective of Primate Evolution - JSTOR
The Origins of Dance: The Perspective of Primate Evolution Sandra T. Francis Many books have been written on the subject of "the dance." Some of them have rather ambitious titles, such as World History of the Dance, The Dance through the Ages, The Wonderful World of Dance, and The Nature of Dance. Presumably, it is the intention of the authors

Africa's New Traditional Dance - JSTOR
AFRICA'S NEW TRADITIONAL DANCE Judith Lynne Hanna1 frican dance is a dramatic microcosm of many of the cultures of which it is a part. Oral history reveals that dance has long been an important medium of African communication. In contrast with modern life in Europe and Anglo-America where behavior is individualistic and segmented (e.g., work from

Impilo Mapantsula – or how to jump from a moving train.
Pantsula-dance is a narrative and highly contextualised dance, it is a truly mesmerising form of story-telling – entertaining and moving in the same time. The dance is itself a document – reflecting South Africa's history and the cultural identity of the majority of …

Introduction: Dance as Social Life and Cultural Practice
history. Dance is most commonly defined as a way of human expression through movement. But dance simply cannot be reduced merely to movement. While it is true that movement is indeed a fundamental feature of dance, because dance can also be defined as a specific art movement, based on the expressive moves of the human body, dance is also much more.

Hip Hop Dance History - Denton ISD
Hip Hop Dance History -Begins with Where? Break Dancing goes back to the ancient dance traditions of West Africa. These dances were later brought to New York. Who? Break Dancing was created by African dancers. When? Break Dancing generated in the 1960’s when young people imitated the steps. AFRIKA BAMBAATAA 1. Bambaataa started the Zulu King’s

Beyond the Dance: a Look at Mbende (Jerusarema) Traditional Dance …
This paper looks into the history of the dance, the material culture and the skills and know-how associated with the unique performance. Observations ... Mfecane wars of the 1830s in southern Africa (Welsh-Asante, 2000a). According to this account, the dance was used as a diversionary tactic. The sensual and vigorous

A CHRONOLOGICAL JOURNEY - JSTOR
brings forward six "European dance characteristics," for example, verticality or heavenward orientation, and couple dance. In the process of discussing these dance characteristics, Glass explains how African American and European American dance cultures came into contact and influenced one another. The essence of African American vernacular ...

Gumboot Dancing and Steppin’: Origins, Parallels, and Uses in the …
BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA A deeper understanding of the evolution of gumboot dancing and the musical traditions that surround it requires a brief contextualization of key historical, political, and social events in South Africa’s history that influenced gumboot dancing’s presence on the world stage today.

Migration and Performance: Zulu Migrant Workers' Isicathamiya …
2 Jun 2017 · Iscathamiya. Zulu Worker Choirs in South Africa (Erlmann 1986) and Mbube! Zulu Men's Singing Competition (Kivnick 1987). A third album, Mbube Roots. Zulu Choral Music from South Africa, 1930s-1960s (Erlmann 1987) is a compilation of vintage recordings documenting the stylistic development of isicathamiya.

Adowa: Funeral Dance Of Asante As A Vehicle To Express Ethnic …
dance plays a paramount role in the social-musical life of most Africa societies, particularly the Akan of Ghana: “There is no band or association [of the Akan] that does not form a dancing ring”3 Indeed, physical movement as a response to music is regarded among the Akan as requisite to both musical performance and social interaction.

African Dance: The Continuity of Change - JSTOR
tions of dance are prevention of depression and discharge of other psychic stresses.16 (3) African dance often makes a contribution to the attainment of societal goals. Dance is used to motivate men to participate in battle and other work activities. As an accompaniment to work or inters-persed with it, dance stimulates the individual's ...

Breathing New Vision into Theatre and Dance in South Africa
3.2 Introducing a Fresh Vision for Theatre and Dance in South Africa 10 3.3 Education and Training 11 3.4 Companies and Career Paths 13 3.5 Infrastructure 14 3.6 Research, Information and Documentation 16 3.7 Market development 17 …

AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
AFRICA’S DEVELOPMENT IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Th is edited volume addresses the root causes of Africa’s persistent poverty through an investigation of Africa’s ongl u dure e é history. It interrogates the African past through disease and demography,

West African Dance & Drum Ensemble Julie Hunter, director
1 Dec 2017 · Gahu, the second dance-drumming piece of the evening, is an Egun dance from Benin that was adopted by Ewe communities in Togo and Ghana in the entury. The music is typically played at special events for the installation of a chief. It is a social dance that reflects modern living and sensibilities in contemporary Africa.

How the History of Hip Hop Dance Has Led to a Struggle for …
elitism that is expressed in Eurocentric dance forms. Both Africa and Europe experience different cultures and dance itself plays a different role within each society. However, in the United States we see these two cultures clash beginning when slaves were brought over. European dance styles are still highly valued while

Dance in Outreach - ICDF
Dance in Outreach by Mary Jones In the 1970s there were not many churches that had heard about dance as a way of expressing worship or evangelism – in fact most evangelical churches would have regarded it as quite inappropriate. Dance, although a part of faith expression in the Bible, had virtually

NATIONAL CURRICULUM STATEMENT GRADES 10-12 (GENERAL)
Second, South Africa had changed. The curricula for schools therefore required revision to reflect new values and principles, especially those of the ... choreography, teaching, dance history and criticism, and research. The Dance Studies programme provides the opportunity for learners to develop their individual strengths and interests in dance.

Black Dance, Modern Dance, and the Caribbean - Springer
BLACK DANCE, MODERN DANCE, AND THE CARIBBEAN 31 circuits. In addition, Dunham ran a dance school and, later in life, held a position at the University of Southern Illinois. They form part of the dialogue concerning artistic modernity in the Americas, including the Caribbean, Brazil, and Latin America, which took place between the two world wars.3