THE CONTEXT, CONTENT AND CULTURE OF DANCE IN AFRICA. (ABSTRACT)

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Dance is defined as patterned and rhythmic bodily movements, usually performed to music. This definition is vividly depicted in my work.

In Africa, dance serve as a form of communication or expression. Africans express themselves naturally through movement. Dance in African context is the transformation of ordinary functional and expressive movement into extraordinary movements for extraordinary purposes; every movement such as walking, talking, jumping is performed in our dance in a patterned way, perhaps in circles or to a special rhythm, and it occurs in a special context. The movements of divers lines in my work are used to depict this.

In dance, every culture in Africa has a fixed vocabulary of movements that has meaning and interpretation in their culture. Every culture emphasizes certain features in its dance styles. African dance has symbolic gestures. Peoples of different cultures dance differently and for varying purposes as their form of communication or expression. The wavy lines below the drum are used to depict this.

FUNCTIONS OF DANCE IN AFRICA AS DEPICTED IN THE WORK

In the culture of Africa dance serve many functions. It may be a form of worship, a means of honoring ancestors, a way of propitiating the gods, or a method to effect magic. African dance is usually done as an art, ritual, or as form of recreation as done regularly by children. It goes beyond the functional purposes of the movements used in work or athletics in order to express emotions, moods, or ideas;

African dance usually tell a story; serve religious, political, economic, or social needs; or simply be an experience that is pleasurable, exciting, or aesthetically valuable. In some African societies, dancing often leads to trance or other altered states of consciousness. These states can be interpreted as signaling possession by spirits, or they may be sought as a means to emotional release.

As depicted in the work we see the body of the dancer performing such actions as rotating, bending, stretching, jumping, and turning. By varying these physical actions and using different dynamics, the dancers communicate and convey certain thoughts.

The predominant elements of African dance are depicted. This includes the use of space—floor patterns, the shapes of the moving body, and designs in space made by the parts of the body; (2) the use of time—tempo, the length of a dance, rhythmic variations, and the attitude toward filling time, from taking one's time to making quick stops and starts; lines with African motifs is used to represent this. (3) the use of the body's weight—overcoming gravity to execute light, graceful movements, surrendering to gravity with heavy or limp movements, and (4) the use of energy flow—tense, restrained, or bound movements or freely flowing motion. Feelings and ideas can be expressed and communicated

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