Overall Experience

 Overall, there are connections between all of the dance forms that were explored. All of these dance styles are deeply rooted in community and cultural identity. In West African societies, dance serves as a means of communal celebration, communication, and cultural preservation. Similarly, Afrocuban dance forms are often practiced within tight-knit communities where cultural traditions are passed down through generations. Samba Reggae, originating in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Bahia, also carries strong cultural and identity significance, reflecting the experiences and struggles of marginalized populations. In the context of Hip-Hop, dance serves as a form of cultural expression and identity assertion for urban youth, providing a sense of belonging and empowerment. Hip-Hop, in particular, has a strong tradition of expressing social and political issues through dance, music, and graffiti art. This emphasis on storytelling and social commentary can also be found in Afro Cuban dance forms, where movements often convey historical narratives or spiritual themes. Similarly, Samba Reggae has roots in the Afro-Brazilian struggle for cultural recognition and social justice, and its dance movements often reflect this cultural and political significance.

Samba Reggae

Samba Reggae 

In 1988, Brazil had carnivals in commemoration of the abolition of slavery throughout the country. Many freed slaves came together to celebrate. Bahia became the center of the celebrations. It became a way for the Brazilian black community to celebrate their heritage by dancing, singing, and playing the drums. The white Bahian elites lobbied to crack down on African parades. Then, in 1905, African groups were outlawed by Salvador's chief of police. In the nineteen sixties, the Afoxé represented more Afro-Bahian folkloric presentations during the carnival. In the nineteen seventies, there was another shift. The media encouraged the youth to connect with their African roots. Music expressed black pride and critiques of the social ideology of whitening of young black Brazilians. Organizations involved with Brazil's new black-conscious movement made a counter-celebration. The marches and demonstrations were going to expose the inequality and discrimination that non-white people faced. In Salvador de Bahia, Black carnival groups were the center of Afro-Brazilian culture. The group Blocos Afro was mainly composed of lower and working-class blacks. The carnivals took place predominantly within those same communities of Salvador. The Olodam became a global social enterprise that held traditional African art form workshops and other community events. Those forms would become part of the community's culture and identity. Each year, they chose to pay homage to different countries or ethnic groups through the theme. Although not always authentic. The music was rooted in the Sambian style with powerful drum textures and vocals. The pieces followed the typical call-and-response seen in African dance. Both songwriters and drummers practice the call-and-response format weeks before the carnival. In the nineteen eighties, the tempo became slower (emphasizing the lower drum group). They sang in a mixture of Yoruba and Portuguese. The subject matters touched on both African and Afro-Brazilian issues. Music equates with politics in their community. In conclusion, the Brazilian dance style has evolved and will continue to change alongside the culture and community. 

Workshop

The last workshop was held on campus on Thursday, February 15, at 2:30 pm. I made sure to wear comfortable clothes because dance classes can be intense. As I stepped into the dance studio, I spotted the DJ set up in the corner of the room. I knew that was going to be fun. Before the class started, everyone in the room seemed excited to get started. Then, together as a class, we gathered in a circle. The instructor made it a safe space by telling us that effort was the most important. Then, she asked us what we knew about Afro Reggae. She also told us a bit about the history of Afro Reggae dance and explained that saying nothing would be a service to the art and ancestors. She made it a point to highlight the struggles that people had to go through that allowed us to have that class. We started the class by stretching and warming up. The music that the DJ was playing was reggae with Afro beats. The music was very upbeat. The instructor mentioned that the movements would draw from traditional African dance forms. There was a movement where we had to lift our hands into the air. Epic memory was present through that movement because the instructor mentioned raising our hands to the sun god. There was religious or spiritual significance in the movement. There were curvilinear techniques shown through the many hip movements and turns. There was a repetition of the movement. The movements tended to be repeated on both the left and right sides. The feet and hands were moving simultaneously, indicating the presence of polyrhythms. As expressed in the readings, the dance is in a call-and-response format. The dance was a response to the beat and rhythms of the music played by the DJ. The hip movements were difficult because In conclusion, through the workshop I was able to experience a new form of dance and see the techniques in action. 

AfroCuban

 Afro Cuban 

In the video ¡Baila! Exploring Afro-Cuban culture through dance in LA, it talked about the little visibility Afro-Latinos have in the media. The dance arose from the colonization of Latin America and the slave trade from Africa. Dance became a form of resistance to their restricted freedom. The instructor Kathy Hernandez expressed that Afro-Cuban dance was a way to connect with her roots and honor her ancestors. She concentrates on Orisha therapy fused with Afro-Cuban techniques with healing modalities. The dance focuses on feeling and understanding those emotions. The dances inspire and empower people. 

Workshop

Then on Friday, February 23 at around 6:00 pm I had some free time after class to take the class. I was excited because I never experienced Afro-Cuban dance. Before starting the class, I moved the furniture in the living room and set up the TV. It was a routine by now. The class started right away. The music was played with drums, but they were not visible on camera. The instructor Ivan Valdespino told us that the dance was a way to open and close the spirit world. The movements were made with a lower posture and used the shoulders a lot too. There was a lot of repetition with every other pair's movement being the initial step. The dance also included steps where we would take turns, showing curerliner techniques. There were polychromatic techniques while the hands swayed back and forth as you moved forward. He said that by doing that movement you were opening the passageway. The pauses before the moves showed caution as to who was calling. Thus, presenting holistic, dimensionality, and epic memory within the choreography. Overall, I had a great time. It was hard to keep up with the rhythms when the pace changed but fun. 

Hip-Hop

 Hip-hop 

The documentary Everything Remains Raw presents the struggle with their work getting stolen and racism. The hip-hop dance that we know today can be traced back to jazz. Most people in the black communities could not attend dance academies. They learn to dance during community gatherings. Their dance reflected the culture and struggles. There have been many instances where people have taken credit for dances that come from African American communities. To explain Luigi, he was a jazz dancer known for having the first structured organized dance techniques. He was inspired by the burlesque dancers. When he admitted to buying dances from young black people. He was a good dancer, but it was not his original idea. He did not give credit to the original dancers. The Strand was a dance that Joan Kiene and Jimmy Peatross took credit for creating, but it was originally from the black community. The dance class was solely based on count but the dancing in the streets was based on feeling. The dances were diluted in the studio version. Hip-hop has many of the same moves. Oftentimes African dance is viewed as vulgar and savage while Western dance is seen as intelligent. The rock and roll movement is a great example of this mentality. Rock was viewed as immoral. James Brown is one of the biggest names in K-pop. The song Got a Brand-New Bag brought new dance styles like locking and b-boying. The funk and soul music were about being black and proud. It was not just about the dance it was about the meaning behind it. Don Campbell was one of the pioneers of hip-hop. Yet he is not acknowledged for his contribution. The Lockers made a platform for dancers before the hip-hop video. The electric boogie lockers came from Fresno California. They were often called pop-locking. Michail Jackson tried to take credit for creating and popularizing it. Boogaloo Sam credited popping (also known as the boogaloo). The boogaloo was a cultural marker. What we know as the moonwalk is called the backslide. Meanwhile, on the East Coast, the burnings in the Brox fused the creative. From 1973-1977 more than 30,000 fires were set in the South Bronx. More than 150,000 dollars were collected in insurance. The fires started with people still in the buildings. Hip-hop was an outlet to escape their reality. There are influences from salsa, the hustle, lindy hop, jazz, and tap. Hip-hop helps to connect to their heritage and showcase their culture. B-boying comes from the idea that the energy comes from the ground that makes them want to move. That concept can be traced back to Africa. Street dancing is learned through a social environment. House dancing was born from the need for social dances. The circle dance comes from African culture. It is a way to connect with one's peers. Now hip-hop has been globalized. People have their interpolations of hip-hop. A big problem is that some people teaching hip-hop classes don’t understand the connection and history of hip-hop. It is fine to share the culture but not to appropriate it and commercialize it.

Workshop

That same week on Wednesday, February twenty first I took the dance class. I moved some furniture in the living room to be able to This time my sister joined me for the class. This class was taught by Tweet Boogie. She had a very upbeat personality. She made jokes and helped raise the mood in the room. The class started right away with no stretching or warming up. The first step consisted of raising your elbows to your ear and then rolling your arm back. When she explained the move she said, “You're getting them off of you”. Later she expressed that the step where you lift your hand and bounce back means that you don't want problems. From the start the moves had dimensionality. They held a deeper meaning than surface-level dance moves. Something that stood out to me was when she explained how the woah had been watered down on TikTok. She was very passionate about making the moves bigger and doing it intentionally. There are also polyrhythmic techniques. For example, when hopping on one foot and lifting your other leg as you bend it back and forward. Overall, it was a very fun experience. Although it was hard to keep up sometimes when the rhythms sped up, the choreographer made it fun with her energy and patience by teaching us the dance. 

West African Dance

 West African

The reading From Village to International Stage, explains that evolution dance forms West African tribal communities when they shifted to on-stage performances. The dances performed were essential to religions and communal rituals. Now they are mostly visible in tourist restaurants or YouTube videos. As an example, Ethiopia went through political changes. In the 1980s socialist states invested in dance forms around the country to be produced as stage performances. The modified performances were used as propaganda for national unity amidst border wars and internal oppression. As the dances evolved from the stage their meaning changed. The means of the dance had meaning from community to community. They were inside jokes or stories that dance performing on stage were not aware of. Although the researchers tried to be as accurate as possible. There were Western forms that were mixed when it was adopted. The dancers were granted the status of being a civil servant. Yet the women were sexualized and had a bad reputation associated with them. During the Derg Era dancers were usually employed in nightclubs. This led to the suspicion of their involvement in sex work. Even if it was not the case. Then in the 1990’s Ethiopia opened to the West and traditional dance was used to generate profit. The arts have been defunded in Ethiopia. Many dancers were not able to continue learning or teaching in Ethiopia due to that. There are very few records about the diverse dance before their adaptation to stage performances. The younger generation created their style influenced by Western aesthetics. Especially since Western countries fund companies like Destino Dance Company in Addis Ababa. It has been hard for African dance forms to be acknowledged in the professional dance world. They use the funds to write and publish books to bring more credibility to the dance forms. In the present day, the dancers are a vessel for their heritage and roots. In conclusion, as the conditions that people are in change over time so does the way that dance is presented. 

 Workshop

On Monday, February nineteen at around 4:00 pm, I started the West African dance class. I had some free time after getting home from class. I proceed to move the furniture in my living room to have space to dance. I turned on the TV and played the YouTube video. The instructor's name is Maguette Camara. Mr. Camara was energetic and passionate in the dance form. He started the class by having us stretch and warm up. It took about twelve minutes. He explained the relation between the beat, the break, and the movements. A relationship based on a call and responses. In the beginning, he started with four basic steps and repeated them four times. The movements showed polyrhythmic techniques by having the feet and hands doing different movements in the same steps. As he added movements the repetition technique continued. The steps are repeated twice on both the right and left sides. Another technique that we can see is that it is curvilinear. The choreography had one turning in a complete circle. The wide stance of the dance gave it some dimensionality. There was something deeper than what was shown. Something that stood out to me was that he joined the drummer when he let the viewers try doing it ourselves. After that, he proceeded to let the viewers freestyle the ending of the dance. The tips of my toes hurt by the end of the class. There were a lot of points where the choreography had me on the tips of my feet. It was overall a good and fun experience.