WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT AFRICAN DANCE

African Dance is a high-spirited, fun, high-powered rhythmic dance experience for anyone who loves to dance.

Dancing is an important aspect of African life. Throughout the varied countries of that vast continent, dance is used not only as a form of recreation and entertainment, but more important, it teaches social patterns and values to the members of the community.

African dance has traditionally played an essential role in the culture of the tribes. Much more than entertainment, dances communicate emotions, celebrate rites of passage, and help strengthen the bonds between members
of the tribe as a whole.

Introduction

African dance mainly refers to the dance forms of ‘Sub Saharan Africa’ and it is performed mainly by different indigenous tribes. Each dance type is distinctly not the same as the other because of cultural differences in melodic and movement styles. Most of the African dance forms exhibit the social pattern prevalent among local tribes. These dance forms depict the life span forms of the community more than that of individuals or couples. Just about all African dances are accompanied by constant rhythmic music that typically includes the continual beating of different types of drums, vocals and stomping of the feet.

Significance

Dancing plays a significant role in tribal life in Africa. In addition to being a unifying activity for community members, dance is often an expression of spirituality in tribal religious rituals. Africans dance to celebrate a birth or a marriage, to pray for prosperity and better crops or to ward off danger and disease.

Types of the African Dance

It’s undoubtedly true, that there exist all kinds of dance styles owing to the different tribes residing in Africa. However, a majority of options are based on similar principles.

  Warrior Dances

The dancing style is credited to possess originated from the Foh and Ewe people, and it is widely known as Atamga. Warrior dances really are a depiction of the men who fought within the battle, which is why the dance involves warfare movements. It’s supposedly an aggressive style of dancing and it is characterized by a complex drum rhythm. The dancers stage mock fights using horsetail as spears to stab the opponent. It’s performed specifically at cultural events and at funerals. The Agbekor dance style is definitely an example of this dance type.

Dance of Welcome

Welcome dances are performed to greet and pay due respects to some visitor. It is also one of the ways to showcase the talent and potential of the tribe towards the visitor. The Yabara performed in West Africa is definitely an example of this dance type. It calls for throwing the shekere to different heights in the air and it is mostly performed by women.

Dance of Love

The name says everything, the dance is a depiction of love and it is performed on occasions celebrating unison and love. Being celebratory anyway, the performances are restricted to weddings, anniversaries and tribal rituals. In Ghana, women carry out the Nmane to honor the bride at the time of the wedding.

Rite of Passage

‘Coming of age’ is considered to be one of the most important ritual amongst the African tribes. This type of dance is conducted as an act of initiation up. This dance is performed specifically through the young dancers who practice in seclusion for months before they get to perform in front of the community. This dance is really a means to boost the confidence of the young men and women and also a means to welcome them in to the new phase of life.

The Maasai people carry out the Adumu dance to celebrate the coming of age of warriors. The dancers need to jump without allowing their heels to the touch ground. Tokoe, on the other hand, is a dance done by selected young women in Ghana. Girls chosen for the dance have to satisfy the required qualification measures, namely remaining a virgin at that time of entering puberty.

Types of Dance Styles

Yabara dance

Yabara is dance form from Nigeria or even the western African region. In this dance, “The Beaded Gourd Rattle” called Shekere in native language, is added to the air to indicate the rhythm changes.

Agbekor dance

This dance is originally the dance of ‘Ewe’ and ‘Foh’ tribes from western African region. This dance is peculiarly performed with horsetails, in the times of funerals.

Adumu dance

The Maasai people perform their traditional dance called ‘Adumu’. This dance is conducted at the coming of age ceremony of the warriors.

Kpanlogo dance

This African folk dance is one of the Ga ethnic group from Ghana. This dance is conducted with certain conga-like drums which are called Kpanlogo. The dance is also referred to as African drum dance.

Umteyo dance

This dance is also referred to as shaking dance, because the dance involves peculiar movement of the pectus region of your body. This dance is specifically done by the South African Xhosa tribe.

Features of The African Dance

Tribal dances vary throughout Africa, but there are some unifying features. Dance and music are generally very rhythmic and uptempo because the principal instrument is the drum, which is considered the heartbeat of the village. Depending on the culture and the reason for the dance, performances can be theatrical. Dancers sometimes wear elaborate costumes, including leaves, braided raffia and masks crafted from wood or plant husks. Tribal dancing is considered polyrhythmic because all parts of the body are used to move with the rhythm.

Influence

You can see the influence of the traditional African tribal dancing throughout many modern dance styles. West African slave brought to the West Indies in the 1500s had an impact on American dance, one of the many places you can see the influence of the African dance is hip-hop.