African dance free essay sample

African Dance Types Africa is a vast continent, consisting of many countries and hugely diverse cultures. African dance mainly refers to the collective dance type of the Sub- Sahara Africa, which is the African tribal dance. There are many aspects that affect the African dance types. Here are some glimpses of African dance types African dance types are distinct from each other because of the diversity, of the nomadic groups and the indigenous tribes, that practice them. The African dances symbolize social structure and traditional values of the people related to them.These dance types help the African people to praise, criticize ND even work with each other. African dances heavily rely upon the African music, which is a very interesting form Of music, despite the fact that in many African tribal languages, there is no particular word for music. African Dance Characteristics In most African countries, music is an essential part of peoples daily life. The two basic and very important musical components in African culture are human voice and the drums.It is also true that many African tribal dance forms, such as the Mamas, dont use the African drums. In native language African drums, known as December symbolize peoples day-to-day life. The rum beats explain the mood of the tribal people and evokes the deepest emotions. African dances tend to explain the lives and feelings of an African individual, a couple or an entire community. The African dances are classified on the basis of gender and deeply reinforce certain community structures like age, status, context and kinship. In African dance, men usually expend jumps and leaps while women dancers perform crooked knee positions and bent body postures. The most recognized dancing method is a group of dancers dancing in a circle with a drummer in the middle. The African attitude towards music is said to be two. 0 dimensional, the tribal Africans supposedly follow the three against the two beats of the drum. Drums always accompany them at every occasion in their life. African dance includes cross-rhythms of the musical instruments along with total body movements.Different body parts are highlighted in different tribal groups. To be more precise, subtle movement of the hips is emphasized in the Calamari dance form of Nigeria, whereas upper body movements are essential part in the dance form Of Ghana, named Ann.-Ewe. African dance is mainly a sort of public event, where there are lesser number f spectators and more of performers. So, in dance forms like Your, people touching each other while dancing was not so appreciated. Their main dancers and master drummers are very particular about the correctness of the dancing postures.There are not many lyrics but there are nonverbal clues and the lyrics are explained through the beats of the drums and intense humming and other such type of sounds. African tribal dance or African folk dance is performed on almost all the occasions in the peoples everyday life. The African folk dance is nothing but a cultural activity that is followed sincerely, almost as a ritual. African people dance on all the occasions like childbirth, various festivals, marriages, recalling certain experiences in the past, funerals and also to worship Gods.Welcome Dance These dances are performed to please the visitors and show them the happiness that the tribe is feeling on their arrival. The other reason to perform welcome dance is to show the guests, how versatile and talented the villagers are. Celebration or Love Dance These dances are performed on certain festive and really very happy occasions like weddings, various tribal festivals and anniversaries. Coming of Age Dance This dance is performed to celebrate coming of age of the young men and women. It is a rite Of passage that many tribes follow and celebrate. The dancers perform in front of all the tribal members, which gives them immense pride as well as confidence. Warrior Dance Warrior dances are performed at various cultural events and occasions. The warrior dance movements are a fusion of warfare movements such as stabbing with the artistic movement of the body, according to the drum beats. The dance steps also consist of turn with phrase endings and various other aggressive body movements. Summoning and Possession Dance Summoning and possession are the most common African folk dances and are also very important in many indigenous religions.This dance is performed in almost all tribes for calling a spirit. The spirits are the ones that are worshiped by that specific tribe. The summoning dance is also performed when there is a drought or a war. African Tribe Dance Trivia African tribal dances totally differ from their counterparts all over the world. In some African tribal dances, certain impressive dancing properties are also used to entertain the guests. For example: Yuba dance: Yuba is dance arm from Nigeria or the western African region.In this dance, The Beaded Gourd Rattle called Seekers in native language, is thrown in the air to indicate the rhythm changes. Ekberg dance: This dance is originally the dance of Ewe and Foe tribes from western African region. This dance is peculiarly performed with horsetails, at the times of funerals. Dumdum dance: The Mammas people perform their traditional dance called Dumdum. This dance is performed at the coming of age ceremony of the warriors. Spanking dance: This African folk dance belongs to the Ga ethnic group from Ghana. This once is performed with certain conga like drums that are called Spanking.The dance is also known as African drum dance. Sometime dance: This dance is also referred to as shaking dance, as the dance involves peculiar movement of the pests region of the body. This dance is specifically performed by the South African Xhosa tribe. Midland dance: This dance is best known as African Zulu dance. It is performed by the Zulu tribes of South Africa. In this dance the dancer lifts his one leg to the height of his head and bangs it down hard against the ground. This dance is also referred as Zulu war dance and is mainly performed at the Zulu weddings.There are numerous different African folk dances, as there are a lot of tribes present in the continent. African tribe dances like Timetabling;, Unmanning and Bola from Uganda, Mimosa from Zaire and many other dance forms are still practiced in Africa. Due to globalization and several other reasons, like extinction of certain African tribes, the traditional African tribe dances are on the verge of quenching. There are several famous African nationals who are constantly trying to save and make the types of African dance popular all over the world.Zulu Dancing and Zulu Dances Young boys Zulu Dance Gumboots Gumboot dancing, or Statistical, was born in the gold mines of South Africa during the oppressive Apartheid Pass Laws. Working in the mines was full of hardships. The floors of the mines were often flooded, providing gumboots to the workers was cheaper than attempting to drain the mines. The miners were forced into silence by their oppressive bosses, and as a result created their own unique form of Morse Code. By stamping their feet, rattling their ankle chains and slapping their boots, the enslaved workers sent messages to each other in the darkness.This developed as a form of entertainment during their free time. Jive During the years of the oppressive apartheid government in South Africa, people in townships kept their spirits up with the energetic township jive. Township jive is a blend of African rhythms, the Swell flute and American- style swing and rock melodies. It was during this time that Aspiration developed a form of working class dance music and a dance style taken from the American jazz culture and films was adopted and adapted. Caperer Caperer is an Afro-Brazilian art form that combines elements of martial arts, music, and dance.It was created around the sixteenth century in Brazil by slaves brought from Africa, particularly what is Angola today. Participants form a circle, and take turns playing musical instruments (such as the Bermuda), singing, or ritually sparring in pairs in the center of the circle. The purpose of Caperer has different theories. One theory describes it as a uniquely Brazilian folk dance with improvised fighting movements, while another claims that it is a battle-ready fighting form directly descended from ancient African techniques.Midland Midland is a traditional Zulu dance that is performed by men of any age with rums and full traditional Zulu attire (skin(ambush), headings, ceremonial belts, ankle rattles, shields and spears). It most often demonstrates the war dances of the warriors. It is a dance requiring great strength, timing and a fearless attitude and control of the spear with forceful stabs in the air towards an imaginary enemy. The females dance similar steps when dancing the ongoing but less fierce. West African Dance Dance has always played a very important role in the lives of West Africans.It often mimics daily life, animals, or nature and there is a dance for every significant occasion such as birth, harvest or death. Different parts of the body are emphasized by different groups. The upper body is emphasized by the Onto-Ewe and Lobo of Ghana. Subtle accent of the hips is characteristic of the Calamari of Nigeria and in other parts of Nigeria, dancers commonly combine at least two rhythms in their movement. In Gabon strong contraction-release movements of the pelvis and upper torso characterize both male and female dancing. The Akin of Ghana use the feet and hands in specific ways.In general men use large body movements, including jumping and leaping. Women dance smaller movements with much use of shuffle steps, the body in a bent position with crooked knees. Dancing in the middle of a circle formed by a group of people is common, sometimes solo dancers or musicians in the middle, sometimes couples with people outside the circle singing and encouraging the dancers on. Through the slave trade, and decades of migration of West Africans into the western world, West African dance has found its way around the globe.West African Dance has influenced many popular Western dance forms, such as hip-hop, salsa and jazz dance. Cambium Cambium is a Colombian musical style and folk dance that began as a courtship dance practiced among the slave population, during the period of Spanish colonization. Spain used Columbians ports to import African slaves, who tried to preserve their musical traditions and also turned the drumming and dances into a courtship ritual. Cambium was mainly performed with just drums and slaves that was later mixed with European instruments and musical characteristics Cambium is a variant of Guiana comb music.However, the rhythm of Cambium Can be found in music Of Your and in other musical radiation across West Africa. This slave courtship ritual features Women playfully waving their long skirts while holding a candle, and men dance behind the women with one hand behind their back and the other hand either holding a hat, putting it on, or taking it off. Male dancers also carried a red handkerchief which they either wrapped around their necks, waved in circles in the air, or held out for the women to hold. Swell Swell is a happy, pennyweights-based, street music from southern Africa with jazzy underpinnings and a distinctive, lilt-like beat.They blended indigenous sic with American musical elements into a new form of street music. The term swell means get up and swell-swell was often the name given to the police vans that roamed the streets, looking to pick up pass offenders or street gamblers. The young pennyweights players often found on street corners, would begin playing their instrument to warn people in the local beer parlous (shebang) of the approaching police vans. By the 1 sass penny whis tle music and dance parties were a major recreational activity of the townships.