Dance and Performance in Africa and Beyond
Instructors: Bakar Abdul-Rashid JeduahShortname: Dance & Performance
Course No.: 07.798.22_035
Course Type: Seminar
Requirements / organisational issues
Ability to read and understand academic literature in English. Willingness to attend lessons, read texts beforehand, and engage in discussions and presentations. Papers for this seminar can only be written in English.Recommended reading list
Neveu Kringelbach, H., & Plancke, C. (2019). Introduction: dance in Africa and beyond: creativity and identity in a globalized world. Critical African Studies, 11(1), 1-9.Mauss, M. (1973). Techniques of the Body. Economy and society, 2(1), 70-88.
Bloch, M. (1974). Symbols, Song, Dance and Features of Articulation Is religion an extreme form of traditional authority?. European Journal of Sociology/Archives Européennes de Sociologie, 15(1), 54-81.
Welsh-Asante, K. (Ed.). (1996). African dance: An artistic, historical, and philosophical inquiry. Africa World Press.
Contents
Dance is an integral part of the African experience. It is very much connected to the music, and by extension the language of the people. Owing to the vast number of African ethnicities and languages, African dances are equally different and innumerable. However, unlike dance in other parts of the world, African dance is closely tied to the everyday lives of the people. It is a means for communicating emotion, sentiment, and beliefs through movement (Green, 1996). Dance is used to narrate historical occurrences, mark festive occasions, celebrate rites of passage, and perform religious ceremonies among others. Through specific movements stories are told. For example, the Ewe ethnic group from Ghana mimic the movement of the bird’s wings in a dance that tells the story of how their migration from Benin to Ghana was guided by a bird (Opoku, 1969).Transcultural interaction shapes changes in languages and music, and this true for popular dance as well. In recent times, contemporary African dance while still closely connected to music, is taking up a transnational shape. This has resulted in what is popularly called Afrodance (or Afrobeats dance). Afrodance takes the shape of a pan-African dance form in which movements are drawn from across Africa. These movements emerge, much like African dance before, in close connection with certain songs or occurrences. However, they are amalgamated into a dance form that is making global waves. Closely linked to Afrobeats music, Afrodance is present in music videos and is the subject of memetic content creation of digital platforms. Its popularity has led to the rise in online dance classes across the world, with some currently translating into physical dance studios. It has also led to the emergence of Ghana and Nigeria as centres of popular culture where people visit to learn and improve their dance skills.
In this seminar, we will discuss dance as an African cultural practice to understand its significance in African societies. We will also examine the emergence of contemporary dance from Africa, Afrodance, and the cultures that are developing around it.
Dates
| Date (Day of the week) | Time | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 10/24/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 10/31/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 11/07/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 11/14/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 11/21/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 11/28/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 12/05/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 12/12/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 12/19/2023 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 01/09/2024 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 01/16/2024 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 01/23/2024 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 01/30/2024 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |
| 02/06/2024 (Tuesday) | 14:15 - 15:45 | 01 715 HS 14 1111 - Hauptgebäude |