As long as anyone can remember Africans have been using their style dance to impact not only their community, but the world around them. There are hundreds of African dance styles and the styles vary depending on their message. There is no one founder to African dance because African dance started in tribes of people. The dancers started by using small foot shuffles and torso movements. The African dances use their drum music, footsteps, little clothing, and large movements to express themselves and their culture. African dance can have many purposes. In Africa, dance is a means of marking life experiences, encouraging abundant crops, honoring kings and queens, celebrating weddings, marking rites of passage, and other ceremonial occasions. …show more content…
Drums have been used in African culture since around 500 AD. the drums were used at ceremonies for marriage or death. The drums were used as music and even communication amongst different tribes. Drums have always been a vital key in African Life. The drums use a type of Polyrhythm which means there are more than one rhythm or sequence of beats happening at one time. If you have ever watched African dance you will have noticed that there are multiple drum sounds happening at once and the dancers hit every single sound perfectly. Live drumming is normally common in African dance so people can learn how they work and better understand the dancing. Drums are the most important instrument in this culture's music, but stomping, clapping, singing, gourds strung with beads, and even some of the dancers jewelry is used to make the rhythm for the dance. African dance music continues to bring happiness to everyone who experiences …show more content…
Some styles of African dance wear as little as just something covering their lower body parts. There are even cloaks and headdresses. Some Africans wear jewelry when they dance, specifically beads. The dancer’s accessories include beaded bags, hoop earings, necklaces, arm bands, and leg bands. The clothing of the African dancers will depend on the occasion, for example, marriage or death. The clothing also may depend on whether the person is married or single. For example only married women can smoke so only a married women would carry a beaded bag for her smoking accessories. There are many factors that play into the end result of the Africans dance
Africanisms in America are a highly surveyed topic for the black community. Joseph E. Holloway describes Africanisms as “those elements of culture found in the New World that are traceable to an African origin” (Holloway 2). I believe, that africanisms are the traditions and cultural behaviors of African Americans that resemble the some of the same traditions and cultures in Africa. Which makes you ponder about what current elements does our culture use that ties back to Africa. Which in fact there are several africanisms that still exist. African Americans have retained an essence of Africa in their speech, hair care, clothing, preparation of foods, and music by over centuries of separation from the Dark Continent.
While studying the various cultural societies in Africa, one feature that stood out the most was that of rhythmic dependance and integration, particularly in the Ewe and Dagomba people. These two cultures, living not vastly far apart from one another geographically, both use drumming, dancing, and singing as a way to bring together their communities, fulfill spiritual practices and beliefs, and even instantiate individual power in their overall societal structures. Though they certainly have their own differences from one another, such as their overall uses for music and the acceptance of whom can even perform it, their similarities stuck out to me like a sore thumb.
Dance is just as important and music in Afro-Cuban Culture. The music is made to be danced to, and most of the popular Cuban dances that exist today are of African decent. The most popular are the rumba, danzon, and son. Especially among the working class poor, dancing and music was simply a way to blow off steam and have a good time.
Jazz dance today is presented in many different forms. Jazz history and famous jazz dancers and choreographers have helped influenced what we know today, as jazz dance. It is incorporated in an assortment of styles including, hip hop and Broadway, Jazz dance today has its own movement, while there trendy modern types of jazz, traditional jazz never goes out of style. Over the years, jazz dance has become popular in the media and can be found in music videos, television, movies, and commercials. Jazz dance is always changing with the time periods, and can be found in social dance, musical theater, dance schools, and night clubs.
Humans from the coast of West Africa arrived to the New World as slaves. Stripped of everything familiar, they brought with them their traditional ways of using music to record historic events, expressions, and to accompany rituals. While toiling in the tobacco fields of Virginia, slaves were not permitted to speak to each other. So, they resorted to their African tradition. They sang!
“Who knows only his own generation remains always a child.” This quote from George Norlin echoes the edification that cultural exposure can offer. How does African dance relate to do modern dance? The two are so heterogeneous in their make-up that one would not think of them as having similarities. The truth, however, is that all dance forms are linked in some way or another; they all strengthen and sharpen each other. Modern dance has its roots in African dance with the emphasis placed on the connection of weight and gravity. Brenda Dixon Gottschild names five aesthetics that are present in African dance. A particular piece that draws attention to the relation of the five aesthetics to modern dance is “Split Sides”, choreographed by Merce Cunningham.
Music is very important for Black Americans as it has always been a form of expression that may have otherwise not been available. First, the African slaves brought the drums from Africa and to make a long story short, we still feel the beat! Hip- Hop, Pop, Rock, Jazz, Salsa, Merengue, Bachata, Rap, soca, dance hall and many, many more genres of music derived from the influence directly or indirectly from the complex beat(s) of the African drum. The dances related to hip hop and rap are also rooted in African
To conclude, one can say that dancing has been a true life saver for some of them because not only is it allowing them to express themselves but it also gives them another option than just being a gang member. Dancing also helps them express their passion for the art and it a form of spiritual connection, while connecting them to the African culture. They relieve all their stress and anger through dancing. Lastly, dancing give them a sense of pride and hope that life could get better with hard work and perseverance.
Music is found in every know culture, past and present. It is also, already being composed for the future. It is widely varied between all times and places. Since scientists believe that the modern humans arrived in the African culture more than 160,000 years ago, around 50,000 years ago, it is believed that the dispersal of music has been being developed between all cultures in the world. Even the most isolated tribal groups are thought to have had a form of music.
Famed fashion designer, Marc Jacobs once said, “clothing is a form of self-expression - there are hints about who you are in what you wear” (goodreads.com). This quote is an important example of how what you wear is a very significant type of self-expression and also relevant to the gist of what textile traditions in Africa represent. The textiles included different African civilizations usually have unique and profound stories attached to them. Intertwined with beautiful colors, symbols and intricate techniques used to apply these elements, lies “important events, people or political struggles that in other parts of the world might be recorded in writing, or marked by a plaque or monument” (royalafricansociety.org).
Music varies greatly around the world, mostly because it has a lot to do with culture. Africa's culture is very different from ours, so is their music.
The Northern Territory is known for its culturally diverse population and some would say it is the ‘multicultural hub’ of Australia. With all of these cultures comes distinctive customs and traditions. Throughout history dance has been used to help people develop a sense of identity, the younger generations are also taught social patterns and values through the different dances. The significance of these traditional dances was to reinforce and celebrate cultural law and practices including the celebration of the passage from child to adulthood or spiritual worship. The predominantly Western culture in Australia often causes minority groups to struggle for recognition regarding their beliefs and traditions. This is parallel to the Australian dance industry, where many cultural dance groups feel they have to justify who they are and are often
Dance was also a big part in the music of West Africa. Dance was performed at ceremonies surrounding fertility, death, worship, adulthood, and other kind of certain concerns of the village.
Music is a form of communication, letting others knows what is going on in the country, political, social or economic and any other problems the people of the Caribbean faced. With so many different ethnic backgrounds in the Caribbean, they are people with Asians, Indians, and Africans descents. This created a language and culture barrier but each ethnic background shared a common link music. Music bridged the gap between the different ethnicities Music is part of everyone’s culture especially here in the Caribbean. Our culture is recognized worldwide for its music. The Caribbean has different genres of music such as calypso, reggae, dance hall, zouk and many others. Our music has roots in both African and European cultures. The drum rhythm comes from the African in...
Dance is an ancient human practice, however the earliest record of human dance remains a mystery. By