For time immemorial, dance has been an integral part of human culture, and nowhere is this more evident than in the diverse and powerful dances of Africa. With a rich and storied heritage spanning millennia, African dance is as diverse as the continent from which it hails. It is a means of storytelling, expression, and a language that speaks of community, spirituality, and the human experience. Indeed, dance in Africa serves as a conduit for the expression of the human condition, intertwining with music and visual arts to create a tapestry of artistic expression that speaks to the very core of our being. Modern African dance styles are deeply rooted in culture and tradition. Entire cultures were imported into the New World, especially those areas where slaves were given more flexibility to continue their cultures and where there were more African slaves than Europeans or indigenous Americans, such as Brazil. In many cases, these dances have evolved into modern dance styles, such as African-American dance and Brazilian dance.
Traditional dance in Africa occurs collectively, expressing the values and desires of the community more than that of individuals or couples. Although dances may appear spontaneous, they are usually strictly choreographed. In traditional African societies, children begin to learn their traditional songs, rhythms, and dances from the moment of birth, starting with the lullabies sung by their mothers. Musical accompaniment for African dances is highly varied. Most dances make use of the human voice in the form of singing, shouting, recitations, grunts, whispering, and other vocalizations. Many groups use drums.
African dance refers mainly to the dance styles of Sub-Saharan Africa, of which many are based on traditional rhythms and music traditions of the region. Many tribes have a role solely for the purpose of passing on the tribe's dance traditions; dances which have been passed down through the centuries, often unchanged, with little to no room for improvisation. Each tribe developed its own unique style of dance, falling into three categories based on purpose. The second is griotic, and was a type of dance that told a story. It is named after a griot, which is a term for a traditional storyteller in West Africa. The third type is ceremonial. However, many dances did not have only one purpose. Rather, there was often one primary purpose, that blended into many secondary purposes.
Dance was often very important to the maintenance of a ruler's status in the tribal society. Colonialism and globalization have resulted in the eradication of certain styles of African dance. As people were taken from Africa to be sold as slaves, especially starting in the 1500s, they brought their dance styles with them. African dance styles were merged with new cultural experiences to form new styles of dance. For example, slaves responded to the fears of their masters about high-energy styles of dance with changing stepping to shuffling. However, in North America, slaves did not have as much freedom to continue their culture and dance.
As the world continues to shrink and cultures collide, African dance has evolved and adapted, finding new forms of expression and influence. In the hands of innovative choreographers and dance companies, traditional African dance styles are being reinvented and reimagined for the modern age. South African choreographer Dada Masilo, for example, has gained international acclaim for her reinterpretations of classic ballets such as “Swan Lake” and “Giselle,” infusing them with traditional African dance elements and challenging conventional norms. The influence of African dance can also be felt in popular culture, from music videos and films to global dance competitions and festivals.
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As we continue to explore and celebrate the rich tapestry of African dance, it becomes increasingly clear that preserving and promoting these traditions is vital not only to the artistic community but also to the broader understanding of our shared humanity. In the end, the power of dance as a universal language and the unique contributions of African artists to the global artistic community cannot be overstated. As we immerse ourselves in the captivating rhythms and movements of African dance, let us not forget the lessons it has to teach us about resilience, adaptability, and the human spirit.
African dance develops and creates spaces through which ideas about person, self, gender, and morality are made and contested. Additionally, African dance and music traditions are a way to bring ancestral and spiritual wisdom to the present. African dance is polycentric, which sets it apart from most other dance traditions in the world. As explained by the National Museum of African Art, this means that the dancer’s body is sectioned into separate areas of movement, with each area moving to different rhythms within the music. While almost all of the dances are polycentric in some way, different areas of Africa have very different dances. For example, the Masai are known for leaping high in the air, while the Kalabari emphasises hip motions. The aesthetic values of a society expressed through dance represent beauty and the best it has to offer.
African dance, performing art deeply woven into the social fabric of Africa and generally involving aspects of music and theatre as well as rhythmic bodily movement. See also African music and mask.
Here are some examples of specific African dances:
- Adumu: A Maasai jumping dance performed during the warriors' coming of age ceremony. A circle is formed by the warriors, and one or two at a time will enter the center to begin jumping. Their heels are not to touch the ground as they jump, and the body must be kept straight. The dance is accompanied by traditional songs and chants sung by a crowd of women of the tribe to cheer on their favorite warrior. The dance is a rite of passage ceremony - Eonoto, which marks the transition from boy to fully fledged warrior man.
- Mokhibo: The "shoulder dance" is predominantly seen in the southern part of Africa, specifically in Lesotho. It is done by women.
- Muchongoyo: A Zimbabwean dance performed by men, with participation from women in the form of singing and playing of instruments as well as dancing along on the sidelines. The women sometimes form a line and dance around the men.
- Umteyo: A Xhosa dance performed by young men, in which the whole torso is undulated rapidly.
- Agbekor: A warrior's dance that originated with the Fon and Ewe peoples of West Africa.
- Moribayassa: A solo dance from the Malinke people of Guinea, performed by a woman to celebrate overcoming significant hardship. The dancer, wearing old clothing, dances around the village while singing, followed by musicians and other women.
- Agbadza: Original rhythm and dance of west Africa.
- Shikhat: Originates from Morocco and is the name given to the people who perform this unique dance - it means, ‘the wise one’ in standard Arabic. The song that accompanies the dance is Chaabi, which means, of the people - it also means pop music. The dance and music begin on a slow rhythm and speeds up as it intensifies. The movements of the dance require energy, as it involves a lot of foot-stomping, clapping, and chanting.
- Lamban dance: Was performed by the griots, the storytellers in African communities. Djeli (Griot) is a West African poet, praise singer, and wandering musician, considered a source of oral tradition.
- Mukuji: Is a masquerade dance and a ceremony popular among the Ashiru, Punu, Lumbo, and neighboring groups in south and central Gabon and the southwestern regions of DR Congo. The dancer wears the mask on his head in a tilted position, and the body is hidden under a costume of skins and mafia cloth. The person behind the mask performs acrobatic feats on stilts that are over two meters high while shaking a handful of small branches to banish evil spirits. The mask used in the dance is sometimes referred to as a ghost mask.
The cultural position of dance: In African societies, dance serves a complex diversity of social purposes. Within an indigenous dance tradition, each performance usually has a principal as well as a number of subsidiary purposes, which may express or reflect the communal values and social relationships of the people. In order to distinguish between the variety of dance styles, therefore, it is necessary to establish the purpose for which each dance is performed.
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Often there is no clear distinction between ritual celebration and social recreation in dance performances; one purpose can merge into the other, as in the appearance of the great Efe mask at the height of the Gelede ritual festival in the Ketu-Yoruba villages of Nigeria and Benin. At midnight the mask dramatically appears to the expectant community, its wearer uttering potent incantations to placate witches. The dancer then moves into a powerful stamping dance in honour of the great Earth Mother and the women elders of the community. The dance continues as the performer pauses to sing the praises of people of rank, carefully observing their order of seniority. In this way a ritual act becomes a social statement, which then flows into recreation as the formal dancing by the Gelede team gives way to free participation by spectators until sunrise. The great Efe holds a central position, entertaining his audience with tales that make comic and satiric reference to irregular behaviour within the community over the past year.
The more significant the concept expressed in a dance, the greater the appreciation of the audience and the more insistent their demands for a skillful performance and for movements that fit its purpose. Dance is appreciated as a social occasion but is simultaneously enjoyed as an activity in its own right, entertaining and giving pleasure as an expression of communal life.
The Religious Context
Thought systems traditional to African cultures are rooted in a world view in which there is continuous interaction between spiritual forces and the community. Spiritual beings may inhabit natural elements or animals and may also take possession of human mediums. This possession of persons is usually temporary and confined to ritual, as when the priest of the Yoruba god Shango dances into a state of deep trance at the annual festival, expressing the wrath of the god of thunder with the lightning speed of his arm gestures and the powerful roll of his shoulders. Thus, the dances of priests and mediums confirm their ritual leadership.
Dance is used as therapy by ritual societies in many cultures. Hausa women, for example, find healing through dance and spirit possession in the Bori cult. Among the Jukun of Nigeria, a similar organization is called the Ajun, whose elders deal with hysterical disorders in women by exorcising evil spirits in initiation ceremonies. During a three-month period in a house shrine, the sufferer is taught songs and dances that have a therapeutic function culminating in a ceremony in which the initiate publicly joins the members of the society to perform the Ajun-Kpa dance. The female spirit mediums of the Kalabari in the Niger delta, using dance and song as an essential part of their therapy, are also credited with powers of healing.
Many African religions are based on a bond of continuity between the living and their dead ancestors, who, in some cultures, return as masquerade performers to guide and judge the living. The complex web of human relationships is continuously renewed and restated at ritual festivals through the arts.
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Here's a table summarizing some of the dances mentioned:
| Dance Name | Origin | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Adumu | Maasai (Kenya and Tanzania) | Jumping dance performed by warriors during the coming-of-age ceremony. |
| Mokhibo | Lesotho | "Shoulder dance" performed by women. |
| Muchongoyo | Zimbabwe | Dance performed by men, with women participating through singing and playing instruments. |
| Umteyo | Xhosa | Dance performed by young men, involving rapid undulation of the torso. |
| Agbekor | West Africa (Fon and Ewe peoples) | A warrior's dance. |
| Moribayassa | Guinea (Malinke people) | Solo dance performed by a woman to celebrate overcoming hardship. |
| Agbadza | West Africa | Original rhythm and dance. |
| Shikhat | Morocco | Dance performed by ‘the wise one’. |
| Lamban dance | West Africa | Dance performed by the griots, the storytellers. |
| Mukuji | Gabon, DR Congo | Masquerade dance with acrobatic feats on stilts. |
Afrofusion is a dance style concept introduced by South African choreographer-dancer Sylvia Glasser known as Magogo in the 1970s. Afro fusion gained mainstream popularity in African countries such as Namibia and Zambia.
Image depicting Afrofusion dance style.
Dance in African and African Diasporan cultures crosses many boundaries. It is part of celebrations, religion, war, and theatre. It comes in many forms, from masquerade to ritual spirit dance to theatre. Some of these dance forms are intertwined, and a masquerade dance can be done as part of a celebration or a ritual dance ceremony mourning the death of a community member.
