African Dance Class

FPA120

Lynn Yang 301157686

Since the very beginning when I started to take African dance class, I've noticed the importance of the existence of music and culture in it. Even though different ethnic group applies different way of presenting their music gestures and the expression of their own culture in their dance, the general value of the relationship in culture, dance and music is still very essential. This paper will be focused on discussing the relationship of African dance and its music and culture particularly in West African dance and East African dance.

African dance roots deep in its culture. In Doris Green's Traditional Dance in Africa, he says "African dance translates everyday experiences into movement…before a dance can be created, an event or happening must occur." This also shows that African dance is so essential in their daily life that people choose to use dance to record things they want to remember. Especially in the early age, culture that contains historical event, legend, politics, ritual or philosophical achievements etc. is likely passed down through dances. In the meantime, culture also directly affects how the dance is formed. "African dance, based upon the spoken language, is a source of communication through which it is possible to demonstrate emotion, sentiment, beliefs and other reactions through movement." (Doris Green's Traditional Dance in Africa) Senegal's national dance Thie Bou Dien is a perfect example of the presence of culture in its dance. Senegal's main food dishes are fish and rice, so in that dance, the movements are based on mimicking the process of eating rice and fish: "The manner in which the hands and arms are used to gather the rice in the hand, form a ball and then toss it into the mouth are depicted in the movements of the right arm of the dance." (Traditional Dance in Africa, Doris Green)

In all ethnic groups, one culture commonality is that, they like to dance in a circle especially in occasions like community celebrations. Just from the spatial relationship and geography point of view, by doing this it sets an equal and inviting atmosphere instead of a "performing on stage in front of audience" kind of environment. It sends out a message of equality, in which everyone has their rightful place, regardless of the different level of their social status. When things like this, which has already been a part of their culture experience, it has a unique driven force that creates more space for dancers to perform movements that would have been impossible for them to do without this culture environment. A research done by Harlina Churn-Diallo pointed out: "Some people become so possessed by the dance that for several days afterwards they have a different sense of reality than the average person."

Culture is the reason behind the