African Cultural Dance Essay

Role of Culture and Community in African Dance

Africa is the world’s second largest continent and the most populous. There are 54 individual countries in Africa, which are located in either the western, eastern, southern, central or northern regions of the continent. Countries in Africa are well known for their different tradition and cultural practices that have been preserved for a very long time. Culture and tradition are important in African communities since members of different communities in Africa express themselves through their culture and traditions. One of the ways they express themselves is through their cultural dances.

Most African countries view dance as the best way to express themselves and, therefore, include movements that have true meaning in their dance routine. Among the movements included in African cultural dances are gestures, masks, costumes, body painting, and props (Wayne, 2010). By including these movements in their dance routines, dancers are able to communicate their messages to the audiences. Culture and community play a role in African dance are in Africa, “ dance is

a means of marking life experiences, encouraging abundant crops, honoring kings and queens, celebrating weddings, marking rites of passage and other ceremonial occasions. Dance is also done purely for enjoyment (NewWorldEncyclopedia). In addition, through ritual dances, which include props such as masks, African communities are able to communicate to God.

The most common instrument used in African dances is the African drum. The African drum is seen as essential among African communities because it expresses the dancers’ mood and evokes emotion. When talking about the significance of the African drum in African dancers, Wayne 2010 says, “The beat of the African drum is considered the ‘heartbeat of the community’ and its rhythm is what holds the dancers together.” However, the Masai tribe, a Nilotic ethnic group of semi-nomadic people who inhabit Kenya and Northern Tanzania, do not include the African drum as an instrument of their dance routine. This gives the tribal dance its uniqueness and it is why I chose to focus on the tribal dance.
The unique Masai dance is usually called, “the jumping dance”.

In the jumping dance, “young man will jump as high as he can while the others stand in a circle and sing. The voices of the men get higher as the jumping increases. In the Masai language, this dancing competition is called the "adumu" (Kenya-advisor.com). Among the Masai tribe, the “adumu” is historically performed during the “Eunoto”, which is a ten-day ceremony of singing, feasting, dancing, feasting and ritual. This ceremony celebrates the rite of passage where the Masai boys are initiated to be true Masai warriors. In addition to the unique dance, the Masai have a unique look which includes, “long hair painted rusty with a mix of ochre and fat, red robes, and large, stiff, beaded collars”( Spavento, 2013). Their unique look works in their favor as it emphasizes the height and hangtime for their

jumping.
While watching the Masai dance performance, I analyzed their unique look as part of a dance costume since it went well with the performance. I was fascinated at how even without the African drum, the dance routine conveyed a lot of passion from the dancers. The dance is done simultaneously with singing from the dancers. The adumu dance also includes movements of the head and neck. Kenya-davisor.com explains, “as the singers breathe out, the head is stuck out and then tipped farther back when they breathe in. This pattern creates a uniform "bobbing" of the Masai's heads as they sing. I liked this aspect of simultaneous singing and dance because it mixes two different types of art together. Normally, during dance performances, the dancers usually use music from a different song. The adumu dance is therefore unique to other types of dances that I have seen.
In comparison to other non-ethnic dance forms, the adumu dance is similar to modern dance. This is due to the fact that similar to Martha Graham modern techniques, which has movements of high jumps, the adumu dance also has high jumps. This similarity is fascinating because the adumu is a traditional dance style that has existed among the Masai tribe for many years. It shows how modern dance also includes non-modern dances into their movements.
I like the adumu dance mainly due to its uniqueness from other African dances and also due to the fact that the dance is meaningful and valued to the tribe. The dance routine influenced my own notion of dance by making me realize how a simple dance routine can play a role in influencing people’s culture and bringing happiness to them. Even though the adumu dance is different from my normal dance routine, I would like to learn the community dance. I would recommend my friends to watch the dance routine because I believe that they will enjoy it like I did.

Work cite

Wayne. "Music and Dance in African Culture." Africa Imports African Business Blog. 27 Jan. 2010. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. .
"Traditions of the Masai: Dance and Music." Traditions of the Masai: Dance and Music. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. .
Spavento, Stephanie. "Multicultural Minute: Adumu, The Masai Jumping Dance." The Perpetual Explorer. 18 Nov. 2013. Web. 10 Dec. 2015. .