User:Sr101skl/African-American dance

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History

After the start of the slave trade in the 1500s, Africans brought their dances to North, Central, and South America, along with the Caribbean islands. The dances created in the Caribbean influenced those in North America, and contributed to the spread of anti-colonial and anti-racism ideas through performance.

Development during slavery

The Greater Chesapeake area encompassing Virginia, Maryland, and much of North Carolina was the earliest and perhaps most influential location of the black-white cultural interchange that produced "African-American" dance. Given their cultural differences, particularly with music and dance, they most likely learned to dance together by creating brand-new dances to draw on their traditions without replicating them precisely. Throughout the America, slaves blended tribal rhythms from their roots in Africa with ballroom rhythms of the US to create a distinctive African-American form of dance. The tribal rhythms frequently originated from East and West Africa, as well as influences from Trinidad. The call and response dance forms that are popular among modern African-American dancers can trace their roots back to these locations. Elements of European dances were also absorbed into these creolized dances, and by the late 18th century, the area had developed a recognizable dance style.

Dance and music were a big part of African society, and that tradition carried on in the diaspora. African American slaves also used dance and music as part of their religious ceremonies and other social events in their community. Other times, dance was forced on slaves as a way to entertain slave masters, but this was reclaimed as a way for slaves to entertain themselves and pass the time while working, or at night when spending time with each other.

New York City and Harlem Renaissance

Early performances of African American dances in mainstream spaces weren't done by Black performers, but rather White dancers in black face. These dance performances were interpreted more as a satirical comedy or "slapstick burlesque" as opposed to genuine artistry.

In the 1880s, all-Black shows started popping up, one of the first being called The Creole Show. Shows from this era introduced dances like the Cake Walk, Juba, Pigeon Wing, and Possum Walk. This era also included a large migration of Black performers from the US to Europe to escape the intense racism that was prevalent, not just in the performance scene, but everywhere.

Just as the Harlem Renaissance saw the development of art, poetry, literature and theater in Harlem during the early 20th century, it also saw the development of a rich musical and dance life: clubs (Cotton Club), ballrooms (Savoy Ballroom), the home rent party and other black spaces as the birthplaces of new dances, theaters and the shift from vaudeville to local "shows" written and choreographed by African-American artists; theaters as public forums for popularizing African-American cultural dances.[citation needed] The Harlem Renaissance was the first time that an all-black production found itself on Broadway, with Shuffle Along debuting in 1921. This began a wave of Black performers leaving other entertainment venues and instead working in theaters. Florence Mills was the first Black woman to headline a Broadway venue, and her work helped to eradicate racial stereotypes of black people, both in the performance industry and in society.

Following the release of The Great Gatsby in 1925, African American dance terms began to enter mainstream American slang. Terms like "jazzin' it", "goose bumps", "in the groove", and "swing" began to be used not just by the African American performance community, but average Whites too. With the move of these terms to the mainstream, the people that originated them soon followed suite. The first professional African American dance company, Hampton Creative Dance Group, was created in 1928. Soon after in 1931, Katherine Dunham created Ballet Negre, later renamed Chicago Dance Group. Dunham also choreographed a show entitled Rites de Passage in 1943, which detailed the story of her life in Haiti. This performance was one of the first of it's kind that told a specifically Black story that detailed an experience White audiences would not be able to relate to. This was very new for it's time, as the majority of the shows at that time were performances filled with White dancers, telling White stories.

Ballet rehearsal at the Dance Theater of Harlem, 24 July 1971

In the late 1960's, Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook created the Dance Theater of Harlem, and it quickly became a world-renowned African American ballet company. They taught both classical ballet and modern ethnic dance, so there was a blend of dance types in their performances that was uniquely African American. The studio toured both nationally and internationally, going so far as to perform at the White House and the 1984 Olympic Games. They were the first dance studio that was catered towards black dancers with the goal to give these dancers the change to learn all kinds of dance. Their efforts made great strides in erasing the color barrier in the field of dance, and especially in classical ballet.

The Bay Area

Hip hop street dancing, aka break dancing, in San Francisco.

San Francisco's Bay Area was also a big contributor to the art of Hip-Hop, both in the music and the dance aesthetics. As Hip-Hop grew in popularity in New York, the West Coast funk movement was also thriving, and the two had influences on the style of the other. KMEL was a radio station in San Francisco that was very popular throughout the different neighborhoods in the Bay Area, and they played music that wasn't super mainstream. The station was one of the first to play Hip-Hop music, and helped it get the outreach it needed to become popular throughout the large city. Hip-Hop dance became such an integral part of these communities, that different neighborhoods in the area would each have signature styles or techniques, and you could tell where someone was from just based off their moves.

African-American Modern Dance

Breakdancing is a central part of African-American modern dance, as it is the base for many more specific types of dance to stem from. It is also considered one of the pillars of Hip-Hop, and is essential to that music community and aesthetic.
Breakdancing was created in the South Bronx, New York, in the 1970s, beginning as an underground dance movement. It started as a result of Hip-Hop music, as a physical performance during the interlude of a DJ’s set. The vocals would die out and it would be just instrumental music. This “break” in the song would then have a dance performed during it, and the term “Breakdance” was coined. Improvisation plays a key role in Breakdancing, as it lets people express themselves and their gut impulses, similar to the moves found in Spiritual African dance, as well as compete with others and show off their skills in the spur of the moment. Being able to think on your feet is crucial for Hip-Hop and Breakdancing, and impulsivity is part of the art style. Part of the crowd aspect of Breakdancing is the concept of cypher. Cypher refers to the group of onlookers that gather around the breakdancing performers to cheer, diss, and just generally react to the competition. Comparisons between breakdancing’s audience and the audience of spiritual African performances can be seen, having clear connections.
Breakdancing became mainstream in the 1980s, following the release of the movie Flashdance that portrayed Breakdancing dance moves to the world. Since then, it has become an international art form and phenomenon, stretching to other countries like Germany, South Korea, Japan, and France. It has also found its way into many more professional dance areas, like the competition show So You Think You Can Dance. Hollywood's depictions on Breakdance have been slightly harmful though, because it has reduced the Hip-Hop dance movement to just Breakdance, and ignored many other types of dance.

Protest and Activism

African-American dance is often used as a way to combat colonialism and white supremacy. These performances can be seen as a commentary on society at present, or in the past. Oftentimes, dance is used in a way to combat stereotypes, empower the dancers by breaking free of western and Eurocentric beauty standards, and help them work through generational racial trauma.
Dance is used in this case to tell stories that are personal to those of African descent and the African diaspora. It incorporates dance moves that stem from Africa itself, as well as other diaspora populations like those found in Haiti and the Caribbean. This fusion style of dance, a combination of the flexibility and flow of European style dances with the African style of isolated and vivid movement, can be used to create modern techniques that better represent their history. As we see in classical ballets, where a story is being told through dance, this fusion style of dance also serves to tell the stories of African-American dancers and their ancestors.
Dance can also be used to bring African-American populations together. In urban settings that face a lot of gang violence, Breakdancing could be found as an alternative form of settling disputes. It utilized the mind and body to compete against each other, and a clear winner could be found based on audience reactions, but it didn’t require any violence. Gangs could settle arguments with solo or crew performances, without any weapons or bloodshed.

Pre-19th century

• Buck dance
• Patting juba
• Stick dance (African-American)
• Pigeon Wing
• Possum Walk
• Black Bottom
• Itch

1920s through 1940s

Main article: Swing era

Dance genres and moves:

• Swing
• Lindy hop
• Charleston
• Texas Tommy
• Jitterbug
• Big Apple
• One Step
• Buzzards Lope
• Suzie Q
• Camel Walk

1970s

Music genres:

• Disco
• Go-go
• Hip-hop music
• Minneapolis sound
• Philadelphia soul

Dance genres and moves:

• Boogaloo
• Popping
• Locking
• The Robot
• The Worm
• Electric Slide
• Strut

Notes

Breakdance (source 5)

• Dance started during the "break" in a DJ's set, no vocals just instrumental
• Began South Bronx, NYC, in 1970s, underground dance movement
• Intertwined with hip hop, integral to the aesthetic
• Became mainstream 1980s after movie Flashdance (1983)
• Cypher: circle around a performance, the group of onlookers at a breakdancing event
• Improvisation is a big part, let's people express themselves and compete with spur of the moment skill
• Has international reaches to countries like Germany, South Korea, France and Japan

Protest and Activism (source 1 and 5)

• Sought to bring back African dance moves as a way to combat colonialism and white supremacy
• Meant to empower dancers who didn't fit western Eurocentric standards
• Unify African-American populations through dance
• African diasporic identity brought to light through fusion dance
• Dance presentation used to tell specific Black stories as opposed to European fairy tales or folk tales
• Use dance as a way to work through trauma
• Combat stereotypes

Historical African-American Dancing (source 2)

• Slaves blended tribal rhythms (Africa) with ballroom rhythms (USA/Europe)
• Early performance of AA dance moves were done by white dancers in black face, used as satire or "slapstick burlesque"
• 1880s all black shows started popping up, The Creole Show
• Dances from these shows include: Cake walk, juba, pigeon wing, possum walk
• Origins from West Africa and Trinidadian
• Black performers migrated to Europe in 1920s to escape intense racism in US
• Call and response dance forms in US have roots in West and East Africa
• 1920s dances: Big apple, charleston, one step, buzzards lope, Suzie Q, Lindy hop, camel walk
• AAVE dance terms entered mainstream American slang after appearing in The Great Gatsby
• First professional black American dance company: Hampton Creative Dance Group, 1928
• Katherine Dunham created Ballet Negre, renamed Chicago Dance Group in 1931
• 1943, Katherine Dunham choreographs Rites de Passage, tells story of her life in Haiti, first dance of it's kind to tell black story
• 1982, first meeting of the Black American Dance Festival at Brooklyn Academy of Music, began studies of Black dance, not just black history

Slavery (source 3)

• Dance and music big part of African society
• Dance and music important in religious traditions
• Dance was used to entertain slave masters, but also as entertainment for slaves themselves

Harlem Renaissance (source 3)

• Florence Mills 1925, first black women to headline a broadway venue
• She helped eradicate racial stereotypes of black people
• Dance Theater of Harlem, first world-renowned African American ballet company, founded by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook
• Taught both classical ballet and modern ethnic dance
• Toured nationally and internationally, even at white house and 1984 olympic games
• Gave black dancers a chance to learn and erase the color barrier in the field of dance, especially and classical ballet

The Bay Area (Source 4)

• San Francisco Bay Area was one of the main contributors to hip hop
• Hip Hop dance has been reduced to just breakdance by Hollywood
• West Coast funk movement and New York Hip-Hop creation happened simultaneously and influenced each other's styles
• Different neighborhoods had different styles or techniques
• KMEL radio station San Francisco helped the music get outreach and become popular