Dance plays a significant role in culture across many societies, but in African culture, it holds particularly profound importance. It is used for enjoyment, celebration, and to honor traditions. Dance also serves to unite communities and helps individuals understand their roles within those communities.
Welcome dance in Lagos, Nigeria
The Many Facets of African Dance
There are many different types of African dance, including:
- Traditional dance
- African religion
- Ritual dance
- Ancestral worship
- Ceremonial dance
Each of these styles carries its own unique significance and purpose.
Dance as Communication and Expression
During times of oppression, traditional dance took on an even greater significance, serving as a form of communication, expression, and freedom. Long before periods of oppression, dance was a fundamental part of African life. Special occasions like childbirth or marriage were causes for celebration, and dance was used to mark these events, honoring kings and queens, celebrating, and even just for pure enjoyment and well-being.
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The importance of African dance varies, with its use spanning many different forms for various reasons.
Variations Across Tribes
Different dance styles and meanings vary depending on the tribe. There is the social context, division between the sexes and the religious context. Inside indigenous customs each performance has a purpose and principle, as well as secondary purposes that reflect on everyone’s shared values. A lot of the time there is no visible distinction between ritual celebrations and social recreation. The purpose and meaning of one dance can merge into the other. The more significant the concept in a dance is than the greater appreciation for the performance is.
African Dance in Social and Religious Contexts
In African culture, dance is appreciated as a social occasion and enjoyed as an everyday activity. The religious context in African dance is rooted in a constant interaction between spiritual forces and the people of the community. Dance in ritual societies is used as therapy. Many African religions have a union between the living and their ancestors.
Dance as an Educational Tool
There is also the social context in African dance. Dance is an important educational tool. For example, repetitive dance teaches children physical control. Children may take their knowledge and form their own dance that helps them in their own individual way. In some tribes, specific dances are only performed during funerals, after burials, and anniversaries of death.
Before oppression, dance had already meant so much and had been done for many significant reasons. African dance has many different components and characteristics that make it what it is.
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Key Elements and Characteristics of African Dance
But what is the essence of African dance? There is a lot to do with proper formation, instruments used, and movement. A popular saying upon Africans is “let the circle be unbroken” due to the belief that there is a supernatural power in the circle. That is why the most basic and commonly used formation is a circle or line of dancers.
A lot of the movement is characterized by isolation. Often leaning forward with flat feet towards the Earth, characterized as “Earth centered dance”. The most common and most important instrument that is essential in African dance is the drum. The drum provides an “energy point” and is considered the heartbeat of the dance. Also using their singing voices, clapping and maintaining a steady consistent rhythm brings together the dance as a whole.
Slave labor started to spread worldwide in 1500s and many Africans were taken from their homes and spread across the Americas. But they found a way to bring their dance culture with them.
African American dance troupe
Preserving Culture Through Dance
Bringing their dance culture with them helped the enslaved Africans connect with their motherland and bring their cultural traditions to life. In North America there were laws put in place that prohibited slaves from being able to dance and express themselves. Yet that did not stop them from finding new ways to adapt to these laws and circumstances, and continue to embrace their traditions.
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These dances then grew into something much larger. Rather than just being on plantations by slaves it was brought to the big stage. ‘Black dance’ then became introduced to a larger audience in the 1800s. It turned into something not only done by Blacks but whites participated in these dances as well.
Often times African Americans were mocked and ridiculed by many but they didn't let it stop them from performing and creating new dances. It started off with The Cakewalk, which was done in 1891 during The Creole show. This then helped introduce and influence the creation of dances such as The Charleston, The Jitterbug, Jazz dance and many more.
Gumboot Dance: A Form of Communication
The dance now referred to as Gumboot was used by African gold mine workers who used dance as a form of communication. The development of this dance started when rural laborer workers started to work inside the mines. They were facing oppression and the difficulties in the mine itself. If the workers talked to one another they had to endure some kind of punishment.
Under the harsh conditions the workers were forced to create new forms of communication. Through this dance many people of different ethnic groups and backgrounds came together and shared a language through rhythm and music, which made helped developed the dance more. Workers worked long hard hours for three months at a time, in complete darkness and unable to speak. It got its name because in the mines the workers used their gumboots to communicate as an alternative to actually speaking. They slapped their boots, stomped their feet and even made noise with their ankle chains. As time went on ‘gumboot’ developed into something greater and gained more popularity. It turned into a social activity done by many. Gumboot was accompanied by songs that mocked mean bosses, low wages, and more.
Gumboot since then how evolved into something great. It's a South African form of art. The dance become vibrant and theatrical, with boundless energy and brings a sense of joy and freedom to those involved.
Black culture strongly influenced dance in the 20th century and it all began in Harlem, New York. Harlem was home to many people of color of all backgrounds, traditions and beliefs, with their own dance styles and music. Harlem brought together many and became the “it place” to be amongst the black and white communities in New York. Everyone came together in clubs and brought upon new dances famously known today as The Charleston and Lindy hop.
The Harlem Renaissance and Its Impact
This artistic explosion became known today as the Harlem Renaissance. It all started when a couple middle class black families moved to Harlem in the early 1900s. Of course during that time many whites did not accept the fact that many black families were moving into Harlem so they fought to keep them out. But when all attempts failed they left Harlem instead. By 1920, roughly 300,000 African Americans moved from the south into Harlem, giving its name the “it place” and becoming one of the most popular destinations in New York.
During the Harlem Renaissance the black community started to break barriers never done before. One of those being the first all black musical on Broadway known as The Shuffle Along, which opened in 1921. Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus are one of the first two African American women to inspire the black modern dance movement.
Katherine Dunham was an African American woman who broke barriers of race and gender. She used dance to influence many people and inspire generations to come. Katherine was the first to incorporate folk and ethnic choreography into her dances. By doing so she revolutionized American dance by diving and digging deep into the roots of African dance and rituals, transforming them into choreography of importance that touches everyone.
Dunham had a remarkable capacity for reinvention, showing the world that African American dance and heritage is beautiful and speaks volumes. Dunham became one of the most important teachers for teaching dance that is still used today around the world. Combining Caribbean dances, traditional ballet, African American rhythms and rituals to create what we refer to now as the ‘Dunham technique’.
As for Pearl Primus, she was born in Trinidad but raised in Harlem, New york. After her dream of becoming a medical researcher became irrational due to all the racial discrimination at the time, she ended up going to the National Youth Association. This is where miss Primus would be cast as a dancer and where her journey began. Primus was the first black modern dancer. She used the arts to express the social and political injustices and restrictions on the black people in America. During 1940s Primus made an in depth study on black traditions. Using this knowledge to embrace West indian, African, and Primitive dance, being one of the first to do so.
Pearl Primus and Katherine Dunham were and will always be important figures in the preservation and study of ethnic dance.
Then there was a rise in African American dance companies. The dance theatre of Harlem was founded in 1969, only a year after the assassination Martin Luther King Jr. This was a direct response to the lack of performance opportunities for black people. The following year, the Philadelphia Dance Company was founded for the very same reasons. The Philadelphia Dance Company said they wanted to to give black dancers the opportunity to perform on a worldwide stage. Such opportunities were not easily given or even allowed.
One of the most notable dance companies is the Alvin Ailey dance company. The founder Alvin Ailey was born in Texas in 1931. He was inspired to dance after seeing a Ballet, Russes de monte carlo. In 1958 he founded the Alvin Ailey dance theatre. The purpose of this company was to bring African American culture dance expression to the world. The company was used to provide jobs for those who were talented and wanted to make a career out of dance, but because of their skin color they had no where else to turn to.
African dance has come a long way from just being done by different tribes in African, to being done by slaves in the American into what we know it as today in its modern day form. A form of expression and freedom. African dance wasn't always accepted by whites, a lot of the time African Americans weren't even allowed to participate in dance theatre because of their skin color. Slaves were often punished for dancing on plantations. People like Alvin Ailey, Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus paved the way for new opportunities and jobs for African Americans. As well as creating new forms of African dance. Today African dance has many forms and is not only done in african, but around the world. Reaching many different audiences and cultures.
There are several types of dances from Africa, including dances of welcome, healing dances, dances of love and courtship, warrior dances, as well as dances of divination, summoning and possession. Rooted in deep spirituality, religious dances from Africa aim to please both spirit beings, as much as human audiences. It is important to understand that many African dances serve not only one cultural function but blend a variety of cultural purposes such as maintaining the status of a chief in tribal society while commemorating a wedding, for example.
Across the African continent, courtship dances aid in the formalized interaction between the sexes before, during, and even after marriage. For example, dance provides an occasion for couples to have the opportunity to flirt through the Sikya dance performed by the Akan tribe of Ghana. Men and women tend not to dance together as the dance reinforces traditional mores and codes of conduct. Men and women rarely perform the same style of dance, such as the Bororo of western Cameroon. The approaching of the dry season is celebrated with men to meet.
Biological sex is a different phenomenon than gender. The sexual assignation of a human is determined at birth, while gender is defined based on a set of culturally agreed upon behavioral and aesthetic expectations.
Many times, African dances tell a story and have an impactful narrative meaning. These are known as griotic dances, named after traditional storytellers in West Africa, called griots. Further, dances from Africa demonstrate a polyrhythmic time signature where two or more rhythms are played concurrently.
One example of a hybridic dance believed to have originated in Liberia, parts of Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, the West African is the Fanga Alafia dance is rooted in a blending of different dance traditions and cannot be traced to one specific ethnic tradition in any African country. The spirit of the Creator is invoked during the Fanga Alafia welcome dance to unite guests and hosts. It is a call and response welcome song and dance. The call is: “Fanga Alafia!” in Yoruba, which means “Hello, Peace!” The response is “Áṣhẹ, áṣhẹ” which means “Let it be so, let it be so”.
Traditional Vimbuza dance of healing for the Tumbuka people of Malawi
Today this welcome dance is recognized as an Afro-American form. The reason for this is dancer Asadata Dafora (1890-1965). Born in Freetown, Sierra Leone then migrating to New York in 1929, Dafora began teaching traditional West African song and dance based on the folklore of his childhood. He staged well-received public performances and by the 1940s, his dance company was invited to perform at the African Dance Festival at Carnegie Hall. Throughout the United States, K-12 school children may have exposure to African music and dance education because of the accessibility of Fanga Alafia. Some have criticized this expansion of this dance of welcome as a tokenistic “traditional African dance from Liberia, perfect for a Black History Month program”. However, Fanga has achieved wide recognition, encouraging the value, legitimacy, and equality of differing African cultures represented in American society.
Illness manifests in the body, and in Africa, ailments can be treated by intense dances that are believed to heal physical, psychological, or spiritual suffering. An afflicted person can gain a sense of control and release from pain through healing dances, which also promote community support. The Vimbuza healing dance from northern Malawi is said to have very real personal experiential curative outcomes. Popular among the Tumbuka people, Vimbuza is an important manifestation of a healing tradition that is sometimes performed with fabrics or metal belts to accentuate the lower body hip gyrations.
The majority of patients are women who suffer from varying forms of mental illness. After receiving a diagnosis, patients undergo a healing ritual where the women and children of the village form a circle formation around the afflicted woman. She then is expected to enter a trance state, singing songs and moving in a dancelike motion to call upon the ancestral spirits for assistance. “The only men taking part are those who beat spirit-specific drum rhythms and, in some cases, a male healer”. Women might be treated for an extended period by traditional healers through a repertoire of songs with increasingly complicated drumming rhythms to further express the affliction in a way that is understood and acknowledged by the community. Though the ritual dance was forbidden by Christian missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries, the Vimbuza healing dance was intended overcome traumatic experiences related to colonial oppression under British occupation.
A strict code of social behavior governs the Wodaabe people of Niger. Desirable attributes are modesty and reserve, fortitude and patience, beauty and charm. For these nomadic cattle herding people, the Yaake dance performed at the Geerewol festival serves a cultural function for the public flirtation between the sexes, as well as socially acceptable divorce proceedings. It is a competition format in some ways, where male contestants dance in a line, and sing harmonized repeated phrases to impress marriageable females. The dance line of marriageable young men adorn themselves in ornate heavy make-up and headdress. If a woman is unhappy in her marriage, it is socially allowable for her to choose a new husband based on mutual attraction. Cultural markers for a long, fertile, and enduring marriage are the exhibition of health, hygiene and strength.
Wodaabe dancers at the Geerewol are men adorned to demonstrate flirtation, courtship, and marriageability.
One example of a warrior dance was originally a danced military battle exercise. During the war between the British colonials and the Zulus in 1879, the dance was intended to inspire young male warriors as they embarked on the long march into Anglo-Zulu War. Indlamu was inherited from the traditions of the Nguni people, closely related to the Zulu ethnic group in Southern Africa. Teaching discipline to young Zulu males as they prepared for war, Indlamu was traditionally danced by an individual or as a team. In a line, warriors perform, with precision timing, large stomping motions with their bare feet to demonstrate their meticulous technical control of weaponry with stabbing motions towards imaginary enemies.
Урок танца. Африканский танец. Танцы на часах. Dance lesson. African Dance: Dancing on the Clock
A ritual dance of summoning Kakilambe is from the coastal area of Guinea is performed annually by the Baga-people. A deity being that presides over the rain, water sources, as well as fire, and wind, Kakilambe serves to assure the Baga community about fruitful crops, fertility, and overall societal protection. Incarnating as a fearsome masculine spirit, he protects against evil and invasion from nearby tribes. In a watercolor from 1930, Figure 1.4 shows the portable bird headed Kakilambe emerge with up to twenty male Baga tribe members supporting it from underneath. The constructed deity is a massive cage, approximately twenty meters high, covered with straw-like raffia. The large bird-head represents a phallus and is attended to by the male elders of the village. The dance itself begins slowly and it is at that time that villagers approach to ask questions about the year ahead. The polyrhythmic percussion escalates toward the chaotic. As Kakilambe continues the rapid dance, he increases in size through a twirling action manipulated by strings. As the size of Kakilambe grows, the Baga are excited to receive answers to their questions about their future.
Kakilambe is a fearsome male spirit who protects the Baga people and ensures fertility.
In Guinea today Kakilambe continues to assure the Baga people as it has done for generations. It is believed that if Kakilambe is disobeyed or fails to make his annual appearance, the people will receive collective and individual punishments. Therefore, the ritual dance continues year after year even in the twenty-first century. The villagers continue in their required day-to-day work in service of their community to secure food and housing, safety, and village life.
In looking at the cultural function of this dance, when trying to avoid being ethnocentric we must make the attempt to view the cultural traits of the Kakilambe from within the context of the Baga people. Franz Boas (1858-1942) was an empirical anthropologist who presented the notion of cultural relativism. He wrote that "civilization is not something absolute, but...is relative, and... our ideas and conceptions are true only so far as our civilization goes". Hence, the analysis of another cultural set of beliefs or dance practices would be to engage an objective attempt to understand from that culture's point of view.
Health Benefits of African Dance
Besides being an activity for amusement and fun, dance has many health benefits. But, there is something very unique about African dance. They are known as polyrhythm and polycentric movements. Polyrhythm is the layering of different rhythms over one another and polycentrism is the idea that movement can initiate from any part of the body. These two qualities play together because different parts of the body dance to different instruments that are playing at different rhythms.
[Robert] Farris Thompson describes learning polyrhythm and polycentrism, "my hands and my feet were to keep time with the gongs, my hips with the first drum, my back and shoulders with the second." All the elements of the music are displayed clearly in the body and nothing is left out.
Here is a table summarizing the key purposes and characteristics of African dance:
| Purpose | Description |
|---|---|
| Enjoyment and Celebration | Used during special occasions like childbirth, marriage, and community events. |
| Honoring Traditions | Preserves and passes down cultural heritage and history through movement. |
| Communication and Expression | Serves as a means of conveying emotions, stories, and social commentary. |
| Uniting Communities | Brings people together, fostering a sense of belonging and shared identity. |
| Religious and Spiritual Connection | Used in rituals, ancestral worship, and to connect with spiritual forces. |
| Education | Teaches children physical control, cultural values, and history through repetitive movements. |
| Healing and Therapy | Used to treat physical, psychological, and spiritual ailments, promoting community support. |
