For example in Cry (1971) Ailey’s intent was to portray the strength and struggle of the African-American women in the slave trade. The music Ailey uses are somewhat of an extensions of this themes as he uses gospel and spiritual music as well as rhythm and blues. In works such as Revelations (1960) we hear gospel music. The structure of Ailey’s dances are mainly episodic, for example Cry has three sections. Motif and development, canon and unison are also used throughout Ailey’s works as well as binary ternary and sequential structures which help convey they theme of the dance.
African Dance is important to Africa to show many cultural differences in musical and movement styles. These dances must be viewed in close connection with African music, as many African languages have no word to define music. They mostly dance in tribes or worshiping gods. These dances teach social patterns and values and help people work, mature, praise or criticize members of the community while celebrating festivals and funerals, competing, reciting history, proverbs and poetry, and to encounter gods. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_dance ) Traditional African Dance mostly used the African voice instead of the more current drums and other instruments.
Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press. Although unrelated ritual that exit today in West Africa, most traditional dances have been connected to or are performed during religious ceremonies. Since such ceremonies are public events, in most cases, officials and elders presence are required and must be able dancers. Dance in Africa is not a separate art, but a part of the whole complex of living. For Africans, the magic of all life is experienced.
Johana Lyon Religion 232 Dr. Spights 3/18/2015 The Dance Inheritance Dance to Africa is like water for the crops. A necessity. Dance has always been a major part of the African culture and continues to thrive on. Being spoken on will be how the Dance Inheritance is incorporated in Kwanzaa, How it was implemented in the King Celebration and lastly, in the Praise House service. Dance is also one of the oldest major art forms there is.
Bharata Natyam versus Yoruba Dance “Religion may exist without dance: but dance cannot exist without religion.” (La Meri) Kelley Sleiman Intro to World Dance and Culture Throughout history, dance has been a form of natural self-expression. It has become an unbroken line of human interaction. Dance has been used to define cultures, communicate emotion and bring people closer to the spiritual world. While Hindu dance is an important religious art form for the people of South India, it is just as versatile to the Yoruba people of Nigeria. Bharata Natyam of India has become the most common classical dance-drama of India.
He is truly being inspired from a more simple and humble beginning in the West Indies when he strips down his dancers in “From Before” to just the bare essentials. Garth Fagan is clearly expressing culture through dance as his choreography draws upon African and West Indian roots for inspiration. He expresses context by stripping down his performers to very bare costumes and thus taking African dance and applying it in a unconventional situation. Tradition, I feel ties into culture in this case and is expressed by the preservation throughout the performance of many of the same movements used in African dance. Garth Fagan expresses value by although changing the context of African dance he has preserved the
Every country has one or more folk dances. Each one is performed differently than the other, although they might have originated from similar backgrounds. One dance that particularly captures my attention is the Capoeira. The Capoeira is a Brazilian folk dance that started out as a fierce form of self-defense and has now become a friendly dance between a circle of people. To better understand and familiarize with the Capoeira we must learn how and where it originated, the ways it has evolved, and how it is being used today.
Dance Ritual Dance holds meanings and values of importance to the dancers and to those who share their view of the world; many cultures have dance rituals. A ritual is something that is repeated and sometimes task oriented. The Indian culture and the African culture in particular have different tasks and different meanings in their rituals. In dance rituals many of the participants are assigned important roles. These roles all come together to tell a story, to celebrate, to uplift, inspire, and to recognize events that take place in their culture.
These are the most famous because of their uniqueness and their creativity. All these schools perform to be awarded what is one of the most prestigious titles of the country. The judges look for a percussion band, a samba song, harmony, flow and spirit, and the creativity of their costumes. The schools are very large ranging from three to
It is an entertainment dance that is the most common of the male masquerade requiring the greatest amount of agility. Nafali dance includes acrobatic maneuvers, dancing atop bamboo ladders, handing on ropes suspended high about the ground and dancing on rooftops. The mask is made of colorful cloth and the dancer wears two capes. One hangs from the neck to the lower chest area and the other serves as a skirt. Bawaa is a dance from Ghana; it is a harvest festival dance of joy.