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Dance can come from a place of seriousness or a place of fun. African dance varies in such where it can be used for religon, cultural purposes such as ritual celebration and social recreation, and for entertainment. Dance also recounts history, conveys emotions whether is be from a positive or negative place, celebrates rites of passage/coming of age, and helps bring together communities. Traditional African dance originated from the 1500's during slave labor and was spread through out North, South, and Central America. The emergence of white dances with the current dances at that time formed more of an extension of styles.
This dance comes from the lgbo ethnic group in Eastern Nigeria and is also known as the 'Acrobatic Dance' due to all of the jumps and intricate footwork. The dance is traditionally performed at key events & ceremonies. "Atilogwu" translates into "has magic—as in sorcery/ witchcraft—been put into it?
Aduma is a traditional dance performed by the Maasai tribe of Tanzania and Kenya performed during Eunoto, coming of age ceremony of boys. It is also know as the '"jumping dance" with each of the young boys trying to jump higher then the previous one.
The Pat Pat dance is practiced by the Jola people of Senegal and involves rhythmically patting the body and fast leg movements.
Indlamu is a traditional Zulu dance from Southern Africa danced by the Zulu tribe of South Africa and the Northern Ndebele tribe of Western Zimbabwe. The dance is characterised by the dancer lifting one foot over the head and bringing it down quickly.
The purpose of Indlamu was to prepare troops for war.
Kpanlogo, known as the Dance of the Youth, is a recreational dance originating from the 1960s.
It was first played by the Ga ethnic group usually when celebrating birthdays, accomplishments, and weddings.
It's danced in by the Malinke people of Guinea as well as Mali and other West African countries.
The dance is for empowering women. The woman starts the dance wearing old ragged clothes and as the music progresses they change their clothes and buries them.
This is one of the most complex traditional dances in Ethiopia and is performed by men and women. The dance involves rolling the shoulder blades, bouncing the shoulders, and contracting the chest.
The Ethiopian term “ Eskista” means “Dancing shoulders
The Charleston can be danced individually, with a partner, or in a group. The music intended for the Charleston is mostly ragtime jazz with a quick rhythem. The dance uses fast movement from swaying arms to dancing feet.
The style of the dance originated from Trinidad, Nigeria, and Ghana.
The dance has been traced back to African Americans who lived on an island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina.
The dance first appeared in the United States around 1903 in the southern U.S of black communities.
It started to become popular when it was used in the Whitman Sisters stage act in 1911. It was also used in Harlem productions by 1913.
Charleston become internationally popular due to the debte of the musical "Runnin' Wild" in 1923 with the song "The Charleston," by James P. Johnson.
It was popular during "Roaring '20s" and was commonly danced by flappers, entertainers and anyone who liked to dance in a non-traditonal way.
Charleston dance was banned from many dance halls during the 1920’s because it was seen as too scandalous.
Josephine Baker was the first person of color to become a worldwide entertainer and was known for dancing the Charleston in the '20s.
She also was a World War II spy and a civil rights activist.
The Charleston dance influenced the creation of the Lindy Hop dance. The Lindy Hop was created in the 1920's in the African-American communities in Harlem, New York City. It was very popular during the swing era of the late 1930s and early 1940s
Hip-hop is an energetic form of dance that combines a variety of popping, locking, and breaking movements. It is often danced to rap, R&B, and pop music and could either be danced in a routine or freestyle. Hip hop culture includes MCing, graffiti art, B-boying, DJing, and street knowledge. Over the year hip hop has evolved into one of the most popular styles of dance and had influenced many other styles of dance as well.
Hip-hop dance originated in 1970s in the predominantly African American section of South Bronx in New York City.
The music of hip hop was influenced by West African songs and consisted of rhythmic singing over the playing of drums.
Growing up in The Bronx in the 1970's was a scary place for a child due to all of the drugs, crime, and gang violence.
Mainstream institutions neglected the African American and Latino youth in these areas so they were forced to find other ways to spend their time or cope with the struggles of living in those dangerous conditions.
This is when hip hop emerged as well as other art forms of expressing themselves such as music and fashion.
By the 1960s, soul and
funk music aided in a new era of television programs like Soul Train. It was created and hosted by Don Cornelius and this show popularized the latest trends in African American music, dance, and fashion. Soul Train was a music and dance television program that primarily featured performances by R&B, jazz, funk, soul, and hip hop artists.
In the Bronx in the early 1970s, DJs started spinning records and instead of using instruments they used turntables and audio mixers. Soon after MCs began rapping over the audios.
The introduction of this new style of music also introduced new techniques of hip hop moves.
Other dances inspired the style of hip hop such as tap, lindy hop, salsa, Afro-Cuban, and other African and Native American dances.
Also, hip hop dancers have been influenced by the movements of martial arts suchs as Kung Fu and Capoeira
Break dancing originated on the east cost within the African American youth of the South Bronx, and was popularized and developed by the Puerto Rican communities with their own additions.
Originally break dancing was intended for a way for street gangs to fight for turf and a dancer from one of the gangs, usually the best one, would compete in a dance battle.
Hip hop on the west coast involved popping and locking.
Don Campbell created a dance style called locking which involves sharp limb extensions and elastic-like movement. The dance move “lock” is a sudden stop and is
used to connect a series of locking steps.
Locking became even more popular when Campbell formed a dance crew called The Lockers in 1971. The Lockers emergeged into a very sucsessful group, popularizing the lock, and became one of the first funk style dance groups to perform on television.
The type of clothes hip hop dancers would wear would consist of baggy clothes such as sweatpants due to the culture behind the dance as well as the extensive moves being danced and needing room to move around. Shoes wise hip hop dancers would wear sneakers or skate shoes.
The foxtrot is a gracious smooth dance invlovling continuous flowing movements across the floor. It is very simular to the waltz but the key difference is the timing. The waltz consists of 3 evenly stepped steps, just likle the foxtrot, however sometimes there is a 4th step to the foxtrot and it is not so evenly.
This dance was invented by actor Arthur Carringford, also known as Harry Fox, in 1914. One night while he was dancing at the Jardin de Danse New York Theatre to the rythem of ragtime music, the foxtrot dance was created.
The foxtrot was influenced by the African American community and their dance styles/techniques and is thought to have been developed in African American nightclubs before being popularized by Harry Fox
In the area of ballroom dancing, the foxtrot was a very significant addition to the style and was one of the most influencial dances.
The foxtrot is most commonly danced to big band swing-style music with a tempo of 120 to 136 bpm and written in 4/4 time.
The instruments used to create the music for foxtrot are double bass, woodwins like the saxaphone, drums, and brass instruments such as trumpets and trombones. Also the use of stringed instruments such as violin and guitar are used to create a "lifting" feeling to the music.
Weave: the dance is all done on the toes and consists of six quick steps in a row and then slow steps taken on the heels
Feather Step: this style requires the man steps outside of the woman
The spotlight gets shown on the foxtrot dance even more in 1939 in "The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle" danced by Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
Bedinghaus, Treva. “What Is the Slow Foxtrot?” LiveAbout, www.liveabout.com/slow-
foxtrot-dance-1007195.
“Black Dance in America, a Brief History.” African American Registry, 7 Apr. 2021,
aaregistry.org/story/african-american-dance-a-brief-history/.
“Mesmerizing Traditional Dances You Will See in Africa.” MOMO AFRICA, 24 Oct. 2017,
www.momoafrica.com/mesmerizing-traditional-dances-you-will-see-in-africa/.
Rosenberg, Jennifer. “The Steps and Story of the 1920s Dance Craze the
Charleston.” ThoughtCo, www.thoughtco.com/the-charleston-dance-1779257.
Waziri, Adamu. “A List of Some Traditional Dances From Different African Countries.”
Bino and Fino - African Culture For Children, Bino and Fino - African Culture For Children, 26 Nov. 2016, binoandfino.com/blog/2015/12/15/a-list-of-some-traditional-dances-from-different-african-countries.
“What Is Hip Hop Dance? Learn the History & Moves at Home.” STEEZY Blog,
www.steezy.co/posts/what-is-hip-hop-dance.