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28.09.2013 Feature Article

The Making of an African Dance Teacher

The Making of an African Dance Teacher
28.09.2013 LISTEN

THE MAKING OF AN AFRICAN DANCE TEACHER
©2013, D. Green

Before I can begin to write about the making of an African Dance teacher, permit me to provide some background information on African music and dance as I lived and experienced it. I will begin with African dance as an oral tradition in Africa and update it to African dance as we in the diaspora experienced it.

African Dance in Africa

African dance is one of Africa's most prized possessions. It is part of an oral tradition inseparable from its music that is handed down between generations. Traditional African dances are primarily created in the villages and hamlets of Africa. These dances did not travel far from this vicinity as Africa was imprisoned by colonialism, multiple diverse languages and each country was defined by boundaries created by the Berlin Conference of 1884-85. The Berlin Conference essentially divided Africa into parcels for the benefit of Europeans.

African dance is an oral tradition, therefore written documents thereof were scarce. It has been noted that a word that clearly defines African dance, as movement to music does not exist in a number of African languages as was explained by Paschal Younge, in his book Music and Dance Traditions of Ghana: History, Performance and Teaching (2011). Another condition that makes the study of African dance difficult is the fact that it is inseparable from its music that is largely percussive in nature. Percussion music is not in the utmost boundary of the lexicon of western comprehension, as the lexicon of western music is predominately melodic.

When one looks to the works of the pioneers of African dance, a definition of African dance is not defined in the manner that we as outsiders perceive it. In an article that appeared in the UNESCO Courier written by Keita Fodeba, The True Meaning of African Dance (1959), dance was not defined as movement to music, but as a spontaneous emanation of the lives of people. Fodeba supports the theory that rhythm and movement are to the African as intellectual as speech. His writing reflects that there is a definite reason behind each dance, be it ritual ceremonial or circumstances encountered in human existence. At the time Keita Fodeba wrote this article, there was no written definition of African dances, nor a map that regionally classified the dances found in African countries. The music was separated from the dance. There was no classification of African music the inseparable counterpart of African dance. The writing of Keita Fodeba supports the raison d'etre of African dance that I later gleaned from Maurice Sonar Senghor who was my cultural informant for research conducted in Senegal. (1971) Senghor voiced that each dance has a specific meaning. Some dances are regulated by the fact that they are affixed to a particular ceremony of the process of life, such as puberty, initiation, birth, death, outdooring and war. Other dances are linked to a 'happening' or event that occurs that the Africans choose to remember. Movement is created and set to the music of that particular group. The music is generally older than the movement. Without a happening, no dance can be created. An example of a ceremonial dance would be Sindimba the puberty dance of the Wamakonde people of Tanzania. Tokoe is the puberty dance of the Ga people of Ghana. An illustrative example of a dance that was created from a situation that the people encountered in daily life is Gahu or Agahu. It is said that a marching band was preparing to parade. All of a sudden they heard a loud sound coming from the sky above. They looked up and shouted Ga-Hun, meaning air vessel or airplane. This was the first time they had ever seen an airplane, therefore this dance is performed to commemorate the first sighting of an airplane. This accounts for the fact that some of the older groups, horns, can be heard in their rendition of Gahu. They also support a pendant or flag of an airplane when they perform this dance.

As I stated African dance is an oral tradition and written documents on the dances of Africa were scarce. I was able to connect with the International Library of African Music that housed books, photos, journals and recordings of African music. From them I was able to secure a book The Icila Dance, Old Style, written by Jones and Kombe. (1952). I was also able to purchase a copy of book African Dances of The Witwatersrand Gold Mines, by Hugh Tracey, (1952) along with a recording of the dances performed in the mines. As I viewed the dances I noticed that Tracey had classified the dances by the dominant movement seen therein. Therefore, we have classifications such as Striding, Gliding and Stomping. I was desirous of more information on the definition or 'event' that caused this dance to be created. These 'Mine' dances were from a different venue as the migrant workers performed them as a form of entertainment. Were these dances extracted from ceremonial dances in their original villages and hamlets?

For me, one of the most striking elements of the music was the xylophone ensemble of the Chopi people that used graduated tin cans as resonators for the keys. The higher tone keys used small tin cans. The tin cans increased in size as one progressed up the scale of the range of the instrument. These xylophones were played in orchestras designated by the range of voices of singers, with Soprano as the high female voice, and Alto the lowest female singing voice. Tenor and Bass were male voices. The Tenor xylophone was equivalent to the highest male singing voice. Naturally, the Bass xylophone was the lowest male voice. The Bass xylophone consisted of several 55- gallon oil vats as resonators. Slats of wood were mounted upon each of the oil vats to be able to include all the tones of the keys in the Bass voice. Therefore the Bass xylophone consisted of several oil vats. I found this striking because it resembled the Steel Pans orchestras that were birthed in Trinidad, West Indies, and grouped accordingly.

I wish there was some way that I could place all the players on a horizontal plane and construct their words on a vertical plane so you could visualize all the players and their words at the same time in layered fashion. But the alphabet does not allow me to do that. Therefore I have to vacillate between corresponding situations. If this were a score of fifty pages, you would see that my part enters the score on page twenty-five.

A large portion of the works of Senghor and Fodeba was done in France. They were both bards. Maurice Senghor represented the poetry of his uncle the first president of Senegal and often toured reciting his poetry. He was celebrated for his rendition of 'Femme Noire, Femme Nuit.' They both majored in theatre and later became renowned figures in theater and as creators of national dance companies.

From my research A.M. Jones was delving into African music on the east coast of Africa, while Senghor and Fodeba were constructing their own legacy in African music, dance and theater of West Africa. I did not find any evidence of A.M. Jones actually dancing not even in the book Icila Dance, Old Style. His concentration was mainly on the music.

In Ghana, professor Albert Mawere Opoku a brilliant artist, dancer and one who sculptured, was summoned by the government in 1962 to become the first person to teach courses in African dance on the campus of the University of Ghana at Legon, as well as to create the Ghana National Dance Ensemble. From this time, in 1962, African dance became a course of study in the University that led to certificates and diplomas, and later to degrees.

If I approached African culture indicating that I was a dancer, I was readily accepted. But when I tried to talk about the musical aspects, my reception was often challenged. Not to paint all Africans with the same stroke of the paint brush, but quite a few told me that I did not know what I was talking about, or no one could write African music. They mentioned that some Europeans tried it at Legon and it did not work. It seemed that the ego of African men was easily bruised when a woman entered the field of African music and knew things they as men did not know. They felt that the role of women was better served at home, taking care of a man, cooking and raising children. God did not specify this as the only role of women. God gave everyone a special talent, and a mind to suit. Unfortunately a number of women never realize their special talent and strongly believe that being married makes them complete as a woman, that they never reach their full potential. This is a pity. It is this reason that I usually approached African culture as a dancer, and listened intensively to the music gleaning as much as possible. I kept my knowledge about music a secret waiting for an opportune moment to share my knowledge of African music.

African dance in the diaspora

African dance as we know it, in the United States was brought here by Asadata Dafora.

Asadata Dafora is credited as the first African to bring African dance to New York. Asadata was from Sierra Leone, West Africa. He was trained in Europe as an opera singer. As an opera singer, he was unable to secure gainful employment in New York because of devout racism. He began to give dance classes and soon had garnered a following. His most popular choreography was Kykunkor, which he showcased in concert halls in New York. There were several people who danced with Asadata Dafora at this time namely Ester Rolle who played the mother on the television show Good Times, and Alice Dinizulu who not only performed with him, but taught his classes when Asadata Dafora was too ill to do so.

Other people who were involved in African dance were Katherine Dunham who always had star power. She appeared on Broadway in 'Cabin in the Sky' and in Hollywood films such as 'Pardon my Sarong' (1942)' and 'Stormy Weather' (1943). She was born in Illinois. She attended the University of Chicago and focused on dances that had African roots in the diaspora. She was the recipient of the Rosenwald Fund and wanted to go to Africa to study dance. Her advisor, Melville Herskovits, told her that it was too dangerous for a woman to travel alone throughout Africa. Therefore, Miss Dunham went to the Caribbean to study African dances that were transported to the islands through slavery. Her work centered on Haiti.

Pearl Primus was another prominent figure in African dance. She was born in Trinidad migrated to New York at a young age. She enrolled in Hunter College as a pre-medical student, and graduated in 1940 with a degree in biology. Her desire was to become a doctor but her dream was thwarted by the rampant racism within the country. She would also become the recipient of the Rosenwald Fund to study dance. Miss Primus went to Africa. She researched the dance Fanga (Welcome dance) in Liberia and brought this dance back to the dance community in New York. This dance became an instant hit among the Black dance community.

As you can see from the disclosure of both Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus, African dance was not part of the curriculum of colleges and universities, and could not be studied on its own intrinsic value. One could enter an allied field and make African dance the focus of their studies. In other words they could pursue a degree with African dance as a subset of another subject. As African dance today is still largely an oral tradition, the situation remains the same. One can acquire a degree in African dance as Dance History, Dance Anthropology, Dance Therapy, and Sociology of dance, but not African dance per-se because it cannot be written, or better stated, is not written. The capabilities to write African dance exist but not many people are trained in this area of expertise.

Professor Mawere Opoku of Ghana recognized that once African dances were presented to the public, they would try to duplicate them and these dances that represent the culture of a people would be so adulterated that the only thing that would be recognizable would be the name of the dance, but not the movements therein. Therefore he decided to bring a notator to Ghana to teach the students how to write African dances to provide a permanent record of these dances. This project began in the mid-sixties. Odette Blum was the notator from the Dance Notation Bureau. She spent two years in Ghana researching dances of Ghana. Upon her return Miss Blum published the book African Dances and Games, (1969). This book described various African dances through Labanotation, the system for writing dance movements. Unfortunately, Labanotation was based largely upon the dance forms of ballet and modern and could not effectively address the intricacies found in African dance, namely its inseparable connection to its music. One would have a better comprehension of African dance if they approached it from the musical aspect.

When and where I entered

I, Doris Green, was born in Brooklyn and was mesmerized by rhythm, and drums. Thus I was given formal music and dance from grade school, which I continued throughout high school, undergraduate and graduate school. As a child I realized that boys were accorded more opportunities than girls. This established a mind-set where I would challenge society. I was a superior athlete in all sports, particularly track and field. I was champion at track meets winning ten medals and a silver cup, but was denied the trophy of Athlete of the year because of racism. They awarded the trophy to a blonde girl who dropped out of the seventy-yard dash because I was so far ahead of her. The granting of this award to her stunned the entire audience.

As a youngster I would listen to the drums in a parade. I was impressed by Congo or African style drumming, that became popular in the fifties. I began dance as a tap dancer because that was the form of dance most common in my community at the time. I was granted a solo spot in the annual dance recital at Carnegie Hall, where I danced to the beat of the Congo drums. I had to choreograph a new routine each year for this solo. But my drummers never played the same drumbeats at any rehearsal. The drummers could not read music and it became my task to find a way to show them the beats I needed.

Previously in high school in a stenography class, I heard the teacher say that any sound could bee written with the Pitman shorthand system. I pondered her words and uttered to myself when a drum is played, it makes a sound so why not write drum sounds. I picked up my pencil and using the symbol for the word 'Drum' in Pitman, wrote my first drum sounds 'Do-Do-Do-Dum, Chak.' These sounds represented what drummers know as Bass, Tone and Slap. I would now apply this system in an effort to teach drummers the different drumbeats involved in drumming.

As a Christian, I thoroughly believe that God anoints every one with a specific talent. He vested in me the skill to write music for percussion instruments of Africa. In retrospect, I believe this was the beginning of my anointed assignment. As a choreographer I soon discovered that the dance descriptions I had written in longhand were not easy to read after a prolonged period of time. If I did not perform the dance with great frequency, I could not reproduce the dances with the same accuracy as when they were first written. Therefore, I needed to find a way to write dance movements. It was a decade later when I would receive the second anointing. In 1962 I was told that Labanotation, a system for writing dance movements would be offered at Brooklyn College for the first time in the fall of 1962, I became an undergraduate student overnight.

The courses in Labanotation were offered in the Dance Division of the women's division of the Department of Health, Physical Education Recreation and Dance. I entered college as a nighttime student as I worked during the day. Labanotation was offered in the day only. I began my studies of Labanotation as a correspondent student, working with the instructor of the daytime classes.

I recognized that a number of the symbols I saw I had previously seen in Pitman shorthand. Both systems shared the same fundamentals of light and dark shadings. As I was reading the textbook, I noticed the section Breakdown of a Beat. This to me was music. They had written the basic notes of music as a vertical graph representation. Now I could accurately represent 'timing' of different drum beats. In my system called Percussion Notation, at this time, I had experimented with a number of things to gain greater accuracy in denoting the rhythms of African instruments. I had created the Circle Method that worked well with selections in common time that did not require too many changes. I used it to notate the rhythm of Batakoto, a dance that was the rave in the fifties. But this method did not work as well with the dance Fanga that used more instruments. I had created symbols and a number of different ways to represent instruments such as the rattle, and bells. But this would require the application of three systems at the same time. Once I saw the vertical graph representation of rhythm, it was easy for me to represent all my symbols in rectangles thereby eliminating those in circles, dots and tiny squares. This was another part of the anointing process, as God does not anoint you fully at once. He gives you what you need at the time you need it and bestows additional anointing, as you need it.

At this point I was able to align the dance movements to the music, as dance in Africa does not exist without some form of music, merely by extending the line from the music staff to the dance staff. The sixties were turbulent times in the US, with Black people protesting for civil rights. The male youths were protesting against the war and the draft. These protest were carried out on the campuses on a nationwide basis. The march on Washington was in 1963. This march and the speech by Dr. Martin Luther King galvanized the people and the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964. The Civil Rights Act mandated that courses on Black and Minority studies be offered as part of the curriculum. Schools that did not comply would suffer the loss of federal funding. I was a junior at the time. As one of only four Black students in the department, we were consulted as to what courses the department could offer in order to be in compliance with the government decree. I suggested that they offer African dance as a course. The department chair liked the concept and I was groomed to become the first person to teach African dance on the campus. As the first teacher of African dance I inherited an empty room with a barre and a mirror. There were no lesson plans, guidelines, instruments, or even a buddy teacher who could assist me. But I was equipped because I was a musician, who actually played African instruments, a dancer who had studied African dance with Africans here, and was a choreographer. I also studied Labanotation and had my own system of percussion notation, as well as performing in concert halls, the Apollo Theatre and on campus television and stage productions

From this discourse, you can see that I entered the field of African dance to conduct research and study African dance and music based on its intrinsic value and not as a sub-set of an allied field. Unlike Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus I would establish African dance in the curriculum of a number of colleges and even bring a person from Africa to teach courses at the graduate level as there was no one who could teach me. Another anointing came when I, as the recipient of the first of three CUNY (City University of New York) Faculty Research Awards, went to Africa to share my knowledge and to conduct research in East Africa. I would continue to go to Africa for approximately four decades covering nations from Tanzania to Senegal.

The rewards of these field trips to Africa were bountiful as they provided me with the opportunity to meet legends of African music as well as some of the pioneers of the 'cultural awakening era' that flowed throughout Africa in the fifties and sixties. One of these legends was The Timi of Ede, Adetoyese Laoye I. He recognized the value of my work and invited me to come to Nigeria to help him put the Yoruba Igbin set of drums in written notation. I was given the name of Maurice Sonar Senghor as my cultural informant for the country of Senegal. He was the nephew of Senegal's first president, Leopold Sedar Senghor. As my cultural informant, he allowed me to study and work with a number of artists (Griots) of the theatre. Mr. Senghor was director of Theatre National Daniel Sorano. As the nephew of the president of Senegal, I sensed that he could open doors for me that others couldn't. Although I introduced myself to him as a dancer, I also felt that with his background I could approach him about my work in African music. I selected a moment and approached him gingerly as I had been rebuked a number of times. During a performance I told him that I could write the music his drummers were playing. In essence I could write African music. He paused for a while and said that African music was so vast and diverse that he felt it would be beyond his comprehension. He stated that he knew his music, but was not a musician himself. I was grateful that he did not tell me African music could not be written. I then asked him to give me a half hour of his time so I could explain it to him. He agreed and I hastily had a copy of my writings translated into French, as I knew he was more comfortable reading French than English. I prefaced my presentation by saying if I spoke too fast, he should slow me down. If there was something he did not understand, to ask me to repeat it. What I was going to reveal to him was too important and could revolutionize the study of African music. He listened intensively and in a few minutes he was actually tapping out some of the rhythms. When I finished my presentation Mr. Senghor remarked that my work was remarkable and the best thing he had seen in his life. But he wanted to have the music director of Senegal view it and to report back to him. The musical director Abdourahmane Diop was awestruck remarking that my work was what Africa had been seeking for decades. They also remarked that it could be done without fancy machines, or expensive machinery. Pencil, graph paper, and a ruler was all the essential equipment necessary.

As I previously mentioned I began my studies in East Africa. An influential person I met in Tanzania was Washa Ng'Wanamashalla, the cultural representative for the eastern region of Tanzania. He was a well-educated person and spoke English fluently. He told me he spoke fourteen languages including Bengali that was spoken in Bangladesh. He had good credentials and was one person I was determined to teach percussion notation and Labanotation. I worked with him to research the puberty dance of the Wamakonde people of Tanzania. This research resulted in the publication of my first writings on African dance as well as the production of a short video on this dance. Washa was also a traditional medicine man. He had a dance company the Kalendelele Utamaduni Troupe.

He took them on tour to Kenya. Upon his return he was imprisoned by the government and was released after a period of time with 'no charges to answer.' I believe he became so disgruntled by this event that he either left the country or went back into traditional medicine, Bayeye Traditional medicine. This is a pity because Washa had much to offer the world of African music and dance. When the position in NYU opened, Washa would have been my personal choice, because of his level of education and fluency in English. For some reason it did not happen. Washa was a gifted person and a fast learner. We lost contact with each other around 1975. I do not know if he is still alive, but with all the advances in technology we have today, there are multiple references of my work on the net. Therefore, it would be easier for them to establish contact with me. It would be a pleasure to show them how far my work has advanced.

Over the course of decades, I have been able to demonstrate my system to a number of African musicians and dancers including Duro Ladipo of Nigeria who was awestruck with my representation of the Yoruba Talking drum known as the Iya-Ilu Dun-dun. He too invited me back to Nigeria to assist him in notating both the Iya-Ilu drum s well as the Bata drum. It is unfortunate that there was unrest in Nigeria and Duro Ladipo passed away in the interim.

I received my training directly from African musicians and dancers both here and in Africa. My notation system when I was in East Africa did not include melodic-idiophones such as marimbas and xylophones, but one of the dances I learned was a puberty dance of the Wamakonde people that included two marimbas. Therefore, I had to devise a way to be able to include melodic idiophones within my system. I purchased both marimbas used in the puberty dance and Abdullah taught me how to play them. Their inclusion in my system was fairly simple as one of these instruments had five keys and the other eleven keys.

I encountered music boxes and more xylophones during the course of my research. These xylophones had fourteen keys to twenty-one keys. This meant I had to create new staves to be able to include these instruments (xylophones) within the system. For every new instrument I learned, I had to create compatible symbols for them so they could be included in the system. Melodic-idiophones posed a different learning situation, as I had to deal with elements not found in percussion instruments. Not only did the range of the instrument have to be considered, but also octaves and octaves with different time values.

I was able to address these differences and successfully include them in the system. When I first presented it to xylophone players, they immediately stated that it looked different. But upon playing the notation, they agreed it worked well.

Over the course of four decades, I have notated instruments of the membranophone, idiophone, melodic idiophones, stamped idiophones, pounded idiophones, concussive and aqua-idiophone categories. These instruments are not tourist instruments that are found on the street corner or markets. When I wanted to learn a particular instrument, often I would have to travel for hours and often more than a day to reach the site of these instruments. Sometimes there were no hotels in the villages and I had to sleep on the ground as if I were camping out. Other times, an artist who specialized in a particular instrument was brought to me and I studied with the person until I learned the instrument.

I have much more to say, but I conclude this writing by stating that I believe an African dance teacher needs extensive training that is not currently offered in the education system, neither here nor in Africa. The African dance teacher must also be a musician. It would be in their best interest to know both percussion notation and dance notation. Some may argue that they can preserve African dance on video. But video only captures a single performance, and does not provide analysis, the crucial element to greater comprehension of the music and dance. Analysis provides the essential foundation of a written thesis or dissertation necessary for the earned masters or doctoral degrees. Without written documents African music and dance does not have a shelf life in academia.

My work has been tried, tested and proven that it works in a number of African countries from Tanzania to Senegal.. I know artists who are anxious to continue working with me so they can write their indigenous music and establish archives thereof. With the advent of technology that exists today, meaningful and successful exchange of knowledge and education must be offered on line, because the problem facing the field today is students who wish to study these advances are scattered around the globe and cannot reach the physical plant to study these programs. For decades I have traveled to various places around the world to teach people. The time has come to adapt and place my program on line so it will be available on a wide basis.

As a US State Department Cultural Specialist, I returned to Ghana to teach students, members of the Ghana National Dance Ensemble, and performers of the Ghana National Theater, how to write dance on the computer. This was done in order to establish an archive of notated scores. TOKOE a puberty dance of the GA people of Ghana was notated and appears on my website http://www.tntworldculture.com/toa2/

This work is direly needed as the coffers at the University of Ghana are almost bare in terms of written documentation of African music and dance.

I have accomplished much, but my job is not finished until African music and dance are studied, and practiced for its intrinsic value on a worldwide basis. African dance is large enough to sustain its own department and not be a subset of another department. African music is studied together with the dance. I relish the day when my textbook is in use in colleges and universities and percussionists are able to read Greenotation and dancers will read African dance from the print source. I feel a strong anointing coming. The best has yet to come.

I feel I have to add a codicil to this writing and hope that the readers will comprehend why I feel this is necessary,.

CODICIL TO TEACHING AFRICAN MUSIC/DANCE

From what I have experienced in Africa among the elder practitioners of traditional African music and dance, Africans are essentially performers first, and teaching is a second skill that comes through training. My experience is that Africans as youngsters learn their skills from their elders who train them in the craft. I have watched youngsters who are given an instrument and a certain rhythm to play, then they are told to go and practice. When the elder wants to check upon the progress of the youngster he calls him in and listens to the child perform the selection. If the child plays incorrectly, he is sent back to practice. Whenever the elder calls the youngster to assess his progress, the child returns. If he performs to the satisfaction of the elder, he is given new material to learn.

At other times the youngsters watch the elders in performance in community affairs, wedding and other occasions and practice along with the elders. I have seen youngsters playing on tins and plastic containers perfecting their craft.

What amazes me is when these younger students grow up and happen to get a teaching position in a school, particularly at the university level where they come in contact with students from countries in Europe, why does the African believe that he can teach them using a western format, trying to count beats, when this western concept was not part of his training and he is totally unfamiliar with counting beats.

This puzzles me, as the Africans know that there is no African dance without its music. They know that they learned their dance in relationship to the music that is related to their language. Why do they introduce counts when counting is alien to the learning process? It is most aggravating when these students who are not descendents of the culture will tell you a descendant of the culture, who is well versed in the music and dance “that this is how the Africans taught them”. I have been fighting this kind of buffoonery for more than 45 years. As a graduate student, one of the professors told me that she had learned a certain selection and proceeded to show me what she had learned. When I told her it was incorrect, she voiced that this was how the African taught her. To settle the matter I brought in the African who I brought to the University to teach and he confirmed that what the African had shown her was definitely incorrect. The professor refused to believe me, but she could not refute the word of the African who was teaching on the campus. I rest my case.

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