Africans became African Americans through the period in which slave trade was practiced. The slaves used dance as a way of keeping their traditions and culture alive. Most of the dances were based on the concept of why people danced. Among the many dances practiced by Africans, the most important of them were the famous nine dances which are The African Movement Vocabulary, Orientation towards the earth, Improvisation, Circle and Line formation, Importance of the community, Percussion, Pantomime, something in Hand and competitive dance.
African movement vocabulary dance consist of several dances who ensure the engagement of each part of their bodies. What differentiates it form the while peoples’ dances is that, unlike the European dances that focus mainly on the arms and feet movement, this dance involves all parts of the body. The dance entails of movement and bending of arms and legs which is accompanied by shoulder and hip movements. The dancers scuff, stamp and make hopping steps. Bending downward towards the Earth is a dance whose origin is Africa whereby the participants bend a little bit with feet flat on the ground. In the Improvisation dance, Africans were free to show their creativity by making individual statements or by interpreting gestures that they were familiar with. Circle and Line formation dances required the dancers to dance in lines or circles.
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The African people mainly engaged in dance with or for their communities in different occasions. Those who performed individually got support from the group through claps, songs and shouts as a way of showing their support to the singer. “Percussion dominates most African dances by the use of the drum in many occasions" 1 . The dancers improvise the use of percussive sounds such as clapping of hands, tapping of the feet and patting during their dances. In pantomime dances, the movements usually reflect life motion through the imitation of animal behavior the egret flight of human activities like the pounding of rice. Some dancers perform whirling or strong forward steps to express the power of the spirits. African ritual dance require dancers to use specific objects such as masks and costumes. Competitive dance was a widely used dance style in Africa. The tradition however is still practiced in America through contents such as cake walk and many other events.
In the early African American dance, dancers performed counter clockwise circle dance in their religious worship. The participants formed rings and composed hymns that were in call and response formats. Those that were outside the circle could sing and clap and often beat a stick against the floor. The ring shout could go on for several hours throughout the night. This dance was performed in sacred woods as a way in which the blacks used to connect with the earth and honor deceased ancestors. The ritual dance consisted of shouting which was meant to form a connection between people and God.
In his theory of cultural hegemony, Gramsci’s talks about the nation and ruling capitalist form of leadership. It concerns the use of cultural organizations as a means of conceiving power in venture capitalism. By using ideology, he develops an ascendance culture. The culture has its own values and aims at making such values to become common values for all as a way of maintaining normality. Dominance power is consequently administered as a means of denying market economy order rather than administering force as a leadership style. Cultural hegemony is enhanced by the powerful class through organizations that make up the framework.
The African dance contributes towards the transformation of the African Americans identity. They identify their cultural practices which are significant to them as a way of connecting with the ancestors. It is also a way of transformation of Africa music in America through the cultural practices carry on by the Africa Americans. “The transfiguration of the African Music by Americans” 2 bring about some changes in the manner in which they dance and perform the songs. Most dances such as hip hop break dance moves practiced by Americans are a transfiguration of Africa dance moves.
Transformation of African music by Minstrel is evident when they show images of white actors wearing street clothing together with their pictures in burnt cork and costumes which were black as a way of transforming African music. The individuals who participated carried instruments which were associated with Black musicians such as tambourine and bones. Some white actors got addressed by names of African Instruments such as Mr. Tambo and tis shows how the whites worked on transformation of the African Music.
“ Most Americans began performing Africans songs” 3 . They transformed the music by observing black music and dance closely and stealing the moves to use in their stage performance. The transformation of African music made the American performers popular among other dancers. For instance, the walk around dance was a transformation of the African plantation Cakewalk. This was a way of the Americans trying to possess the African music and making it seem like they were the composers of the music and the dances. This transformation and transfiguration made it hard for Africans to re possess their identification. Most songs were produced with similar dancing styles as those of the Africans with few changes.
Bibliography
Bloomquist, Jennifer. "The minstrel legacy: African American English and the historical construction of “Black” identities in entertainment." Journal of African American Studies 19, no. 4 (2015): 410-425.
Evans, Nicholas M. Writing jazz: Race, nationalism, and modern culture in the 1920s . Routledge, 2015.
Schumaker, Lyn. "The dancing nurse: kalela drums and the history of hygiene in Africa." In Musical Healing in Cultural Contexts , pp. 149-170. Routledge, 2017.
1 Schumaker, Lyn. "The dancing nurse: kalela drums and the history of hygiene in Africa." In Musical Healing in Cultural Contexts , pp. 149-170. Routledge, 2017.
2 Evans, Nicholas M. Writing jazz: Race, nationalism, and modern culture in the 1920s . Routledge, 2015.
3 Bloomquist, Jennifer. “Minstrel heritage: African American English and the Black” historic construction of “identities in entertainment." Journal of African American Studies 19, no. 4 (2015): 410-425 .
