African dancing - an expression of life 

Dance in Africa is not a separate art but forms part of everyday life. Unlike many dances of the west, African dance is not detached from the lives of the people.   It is a spontaneous release from the people and translates everyday life experiences into movement. Based upon the spoken language, African dance is a source of communication through which it is possible to demonstrate emotions, beliefs, everyday life activities and other reactions through movement.

Love, hatred, joy, sorrow, courage, fear, and all other emotions are expressed through rhythmic movements. The people dance the sowing of the seed and the harvest, puberty rites, warfare, hunting, birth, death and life after death. There is the rain dance, dance of the sun, dance of strong intelligent offspring, courtship dance, marriage dance etc.

Each country of Africa has many ethnic groups, each of which has a different language, history and tradition.  Music and dance reflect these identities.  Many traditional dances have a particular costume that enhances movement.

African dance has traditional roots, which implies that it is creative and not ‘written down’.  Traditional dances are developing all the time and this is particularly true of West African dance.  In recent years, West African dance has begun to be performed out of its original context e.g. in hotels, theatres and national ceremonies.  Performances bring together examples of dance from different regions across West Africa.

The first West African performing groups visited Europe in the 1970s.  Since then, some West African groups have been influenced by ballet, and many West African countries now have their own national dance ensembles

African dance is no different to jazz or contemporary dance in the sense that the dancer needs to learn a particular technique and practice to become good at it.  Training is a very important part of the daily routines of professional dancers.

West African dance is gaining recognition as a performing art in Europe and also in Africa.  The dances have become a source of inspiration to performers outside Africa and as more African dance groups travel out of Africa to perform, more people will learn these wonderfully empowering dances.
 

If you fancy learning the freedom of African dancing, why not have go at West African, South African Gumboot dancing or African Contemporary at a dance centre near you.