WHAT IS THE TRUE AGE OF AFRICAN DANCE?

This is a loaded question that has a number of different answers depending upon the circumstances and definitions of African dance. First, if we address the question from the realistic African approach before the advent of African dance as a theatrical production, the most visible form, known to audiences today, then the concept of African dance does not exist, mainly because Africans under these circumstances did not define movement to music as dance. I say this because in a number of African languages, a specific word that defines 'movement to music' as dance does not exist. Outsiders, namely the colonizers, defined movement to music as dance because of their cultural familiarity with the subject. The colonizers figured if movement to music was known in their culture as dance, then it must be the same in all other cultures. They affixed the terms dance, danse and ballet to all movement to music.

Africans perceive of their culture as the whole, in which everything has a part. Therefore, they would consider their movement to music as a spontaneous emanation of their lives. Using this African definition of movement to music, African dance is as old as the continent and the people themselves.

Using the “colonial” concept of African dance, let us examine African dance from a historical basis. It is known that African dance does not exist without its music, or some form of music be it the voice, simple hand clapping, or rattles whether worn on the body or played, to orchestras of different instruments.

These movements represent aspects of the lives of the people, be they prescription or non-prescription. Prescription means that the movement has a specific purpose associated with a ritual, such as birth, death, circumcision or puberty. Non-prescription or over-the-counter African dances happen as a reaction to a happening or 'event' that the Africans choose to remember. This event of happening could be something monumental or something as simple as 'pounding food-stuff'. An example of an event that caused a dance to be created can be seen in Ghana when a marching band was practicing. All of a sudden they heard a loud sound coming from the sky. They looked up and shouted Ga–Hun meaning 'air vessel' or 'air plane'. This was the first time they had seen an airplane. Therefore, they created the dance “Gahu or Agahu' to commemorate their first view of an airplane.

Remember this was the normal way to record their history before the advent of written languages for the numerous languages spoken on the continent of Africa. African dance is based on its music; and the music is based upon the spoken languages of Africa. The instruments were designed to replicate the spoken languages of the people. Drums have the largest speaking voice. This may be difficult for 'outsiders' to understand, but 'drum languages' are actually rhythmic sounds that represent the spoken language of the people. For example three half-hand strokes on the drum means different things to different language groups. In Ghana it may describe the name of the dance Kpanlogo. In the Congo it may describe the word “copper” or a little dog that bites. One has to be versed in the language of the people in order to understand the message on the drums.

African Theatrical Dance

African dance as a theatrical practice came into being in the early fifties and is attributed to two Africans who left the shores of Africa and majored in theater in France. They were Maurice Sonar Senghor and Keita Fodeba. Maurice Senghor, the nephew of Senegal's first president, was a celebrated nightclub entertainer with his group Sonar Senghor et Les Siccos. The first African theatrical group created specifically as a theatrical showcase and later to tour was Les Ballet National de Keita Fodeba that debuted in France not in Africa. This was in the early fifties. This would make African theatrical dance approximately 60 years old.

Class Room Situation in Africa

To establish a time line for the age of African dance, let us investigate the classroom situation. To begin with in Africa, dance was created in hamlets and villages of the people and did not travel far from these places. African dance did not receive a fair reception under colonialism. In fact people were banned from participation in such activity in exchange for education. Ghana was the first country of the sub-Sahara, to gain independence in 1957. President Kwame Nkrumah was the first president and he established Universities and Art Councils throughout the country. Thus the University of Ghana at Legon became a focal institution for the study of African culture namely music and dance. It was in 1962 that Albert Mawere Opoku a gifted dancer and artist was commissioned to create a national dance ensemble for Ghana, as well as to teach courses in traditional African dance at Legon. The year 1962 saw the beginning of dance in the classroom in Ghana. This would make African dance in the classroom approximately 51 years old.

Fortunately, this was the situation in Ghana, but not in many countries of West Africa. 'Recherche Pedagogie et Culture' took a survey of African universities and colleges to determine whether they taught traditional African music on their campuses. If so what instruments were taught?
The survey also questioned if traditional African dance was taught on the campus. This report was conducted among French speaking nations of Africa and unfortunately the results were not pleasing. Only one country said that they taught traditional African music and one instrument, a xylophone. The survey also revealed that traditional African dance was not taught on any of the campuses, but modern and ballet were taught on several campuses. I also need to make it known that the campuses where African music was taught were not the main campuses of the universities, but a liberal arts arm of the campus such as Institute of Arts or an Arts Council. This was the situation in French speaking countries of West Africa as late as the nineties.

Studio African Dance

African Dance in the Studio in the tri-state area dates back to the time of Asadata Dafora, who is credited as the first person to bring African dance to the shores of the United States. Whether the dances he taught in his classes were indigenous dances that actually existed in Sierra Leone is unknown as African dance is an oral tradition without the support of written documents. African dance in the studio saw a number of entrances and exists of different personalities as teachers from the forties to the sixties. Some of these personalities were Katherine Dunham, Pearl Primus, and Babatunde Olatunji and Alice and Gus Dinizulu dance company, to cite a few. Studio African
Dance in the diaspora is approximately 72 years old.

Classroom African dance in the US

After President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act, courses on Black and Minority Studies were mandated throughout the nation. African dance was at the top of the list of desired courses. African dance became part of the curriculum nationwide in 1969. This was the year of the creation of the nation's first Black Studies Department at San Francisco State. I also became the first person to teach African dance in Brooklyn College. Therefore, I would say that African dance in the classroom situation is approximately 43 years old.

Therefore, it is safe to postulate that:-
a. African dance, from the African perspective, on the continent is as old as the continent.
b. African dance in the theater is sixty years old.
c. African dance in the classroom of Africa is fifty-one years old.
d. Studio African dance in the diaspora is seventy-two years old.
e. African dance in the classrooms of the United States is approximately forty-three years old.