African dance
Under African dance are generally dances unterschiedlichster kind in sub-Saharan Africa understood. The dances are mostly accompanied by drums . Both belong so closely together that they cannot be separated from each other.
Africa is a large continent with 53 countries. Although the dances have some similarities, they are very different from Arab North Africa in terms of traditions and migrations . In Africa, music, dance and singing are inseparable and are deeply rooted in people's everyday consciousness.
War dances
War dances offer a possibility to practice sword fighting techniques , to practice avoiding attacks. At the same time, the muscles that are needed for this type of movement are developed. In addition, the warriors can show strength and pride.
Love dances
They can be as graceful as they are powerful and energetic. They are often danced at full moon festivals, weddings, and annual celebrations.
Yankadi and Macru
These two dances are very common all over West Africa. They are always danced one after the other. Yankadi is slow and soft and is danced with many turns of the body. Macru is five times faster and contains a lot of erotic movements. Men and women face each other in two rows. The women have scarves and give their scarf to the man they want to dance with, the men pass the scarf on to the woman they want to dance with. Many marriages arise from these dances because they determine who likes whom.
Dances to rituals of passage
On the one hand, there are dances for young people who are introduced to the community during initiation . They give confidence to the dancer who has to do well before anyone else who now formally recognizes him as an adult . That makes you proud and leads to a deeper sense of community and togetherness. For example, young Chewa women are initiated by members of the Nyau secret society , which is commonly known there as Chinamwali . Other rites of passage refer to the annual calendar. This includes the Tuareg's Sebiba men's dance .
Welcome dances
On the one hand, the welcome dances show the respect for the guests and the joy that they are there, on the other hand they show how talented and attractive the hosts are.
Yabara
The dance is called after the pumpkin - rattle , which is covered with a net of pearls. With her the accents are set by the dancing women. They throw the rattles at different heights in different rhythm variants during the dance . It is very impressive when all the dancers throw the rattles and catch them again at the same time.
Invocation of the Spirits
These dances can be found everywhere and play an important role in many traditional African religions . They all have a connection with the spirits. It can be the spirit of a plant or a forest, an ancestor or a deity that is called. When invoking the "Spirit of the Forest" it is to be remembered that many trees are connected by their roots underground. An example of such an invocation of the spirits is the Gule wamkulu , a Chewa dance festival usually lasting several days to honor and appease the deceased.
One tries not to drive out possessive spirits in an obsessional cult , but to summon them and make them favorable. Dances belonging to obsession cults are Stambali in Tunisia, Derdeba in Morocco, Pepo in Tanzania, Mashawe in Zambia and Zimbabwe, and Vimbuza in Malawi.
Orisha dances
The orishas are the gods of many forms of African religion all over the world. Are known z. B. Candomblé , Santeria , Yoruba , Voodoo . Each Orisha has its own colors, days, times, food and drink, its music and of course its dance. All of this is used on special occasions to honor or seek help from the orisha, to ask for guidance or to reconcile him when he seems upset.
Invocation of the Kakilambe
Kakilambe is a great spirit of the forest who is always called by dance. It comes as a huge statue that is carried out of the forest to the waiting village, where there is a lot of dancing and singing. During this time the statue is erected. Then the priests ask Kakilambe whether everything will go well in the next few years or whether any special events are to be expected, such as B. drought , war or the like.
Invocation of Monbayasa
Moribayasa is a dance of women who have got into misery. Usually they are still childless after many years of unsuccessful attempts to get pregnant. But it can also be because someone you love is sick or some other major problem. The name belongs to a particular tree near a village in Guinea , and it is from there that rhythm and dance come. The woman prepares by putting on torn and dirty clothes and walking to the tree with a group of drummers. The drummers play and the woman sings and dances all around the village. Then she comes back and digs a hole at the base of the tree. In it she buries the torn clothes with a prayer for help.
Funerals
The Zaouli mask dance is a rhythmic-artistic dance that is practiced by experienced dancers in the center of Ivory Coast . The solo performance is accompanied by around ten musicians with percussion and flutes. Only a second dancer initially animates the mask wearer to his wild performance. What is remarkable is the dancer's footwork, which leaves the body almost motionless in the air. The dance is also shown outside of funerals.
Modern dances
The rubber boot dance is a modern, authentic, African dance, which is danced more often by dance groups (also in the tourist centers) of South Africa . The rubber boot dance is considered by some to be the forerunner of the tap dance .
Movements of traditional dances are combined with new movements and danced creatively to modern African music.
In Senegal , the Mbalax , named after the music genre of the same name, very popular. Elements from the traditional Sabar dance are danced to modern pop music, the most famous representative of which is Youssou N'Dour .
The soukous is the popular style of music and dance in Côte d'Ivoire , but it is also danced in other parts of the continent.
literature
- Kariamu Welsh Asante (Ed.): African Dance: An Artistic, Historical and Philosophical Inquiry. African World Press, Trenton, New Jersey 1996
- Renato Berger: African Dance: African dance in the past and future. Heinrichshofen's Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1984
- Helmut Günther: Basic phenomena and basic concepts of African and Afro-American dance. Universal Edition, Graz 1969
- Tabea Jerrentrup: glitter. Aspects of the sociology and psychology of dance. WiKu-Wissenschaftsverlag and Kulturedition, Duisburg 2006, ISBN 3-86553-172-5