Masks of Africa: Since the earliest times masks have played an important role in the culture of Africa. ... The mask has been used by the Africans mainly to solve major human and social problems. ... The mask depicted is a royal mask called the "bwoom", usually danced alone at important festivals. ... The other two categories are initiation masks and dance masks. The mask depicted is a dance mask, one of the few female masks produced. ...

• Word Count: 926
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• Grade Level: High School

Vocal music is very traditional to South Africa and it was common, it also had dances involved and social gathers and had complex call-and-response patterns. The film also documented instrumental music where you can see the drum or the flute; It also featured mbaqanga which is a famous South African dance combined with traditional elements of chanting and drumming and the film also featured a lot of maskanda also known as Zulu folk music. ... The film also explored how the music industry works in South Africa and it revealed how Zulu workers practiced their secret war dance rituals against whi...

• Word Count: 834
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

By doing this, European colonists "messed up- the traditional African lifestyle. ... The Europeans, hiding under the flag of Christianity humanitarianism and liberalism, occupied Africa and enforced hard labour to the men and women of Africa. ... The French that had come to Africa had no appreciation for the mystical culture of the Africans. ... The colonization of Africa simply weakened Africa to its roots at the time of the colonization. ... The building filled with women was also corrupted, women were " to dance to Raphael's tune if they were to avoid suffering - (173). ...

• Word Count: 999
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• Grade Level: High School

The classical civilization of Rome, Greece, and Africa used art for ceremonial purposes. The three classical civilizations used sculptures for prayer, murals for entertainment, and masks for ceremonial dances. ... Mostly people at ceremonial dances wore masks and people who performed dances called upon ancestral spirits to help the community. ... The classical civilization of Rome, Greece, and Africa used architecture for ceremonial purposes. ... In Africa the Mosque at Timbuktu was made by a Spanish architect. ...

• Word Count: 320
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• Grade Level: High School

Puerto Ricos music culture stems from a combination of African percussions and poetry. ... It has heavy musical roots from Cuba and the African-Caribbean. Salsa is Highly danceable, its rhythms are hot and rhythmically sophisticated. ... Mambos dance moves are generally from foward to backward but Salsa has more of a side to side feel. However, Salsa and Mambo are dance and loved everywhere in the Caribbean. ...

• Word Count: 508
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The Africans brought here against their will were not born slaves. ... They were traders and hunters, musicians and dancers, poets and sculptors. ... In Africa their cultures were rich and varied, as different from one another as were the African peoples themselves. ... "Oroonoko" was a love story about an african prince put into slavery. ... He is a leader of an African Tribe, and nobleman of African descent. ...

• Word Count: 928
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Americans musical history is very short when compared to Japan, India, Africa, and China. ... Africa's culture is very different from ours, so is their music. ... People use music for many different things, like for instance dancing. Many people love to dance, but without music you couldn't dance. ...

• Word Count: 432
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• Grade Level: High School

Contra dance dates back to the 1800's. ... Contra dance is a form of American folk dance in which the dancers form a set of two parallel lines which run the length of the hall. ... Each dance is prompted by the caller at the beginning of the dance, and is also repeated during the dance if needed. ... Contra dancing was fun and liberating. ... However, I feel as though the anlo-ewe of the southeastern coast of Africa would have be the social organization that would most prefer this type of musical activity. ...

• Word Count: 507
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• Grade Level: High School

The most famous and recognized African art form by Westerners is African masks. African masks are usually created to express a religious idea. Since indigenous African religions are animistic, the masks usually display symbols from nature. In early times, masks were worn mainly in religious ceremonial dances related to the growing of the crops, celebration of births, deaths, and important tribal and secret society ceremonies. ... Although African works of art are greatly appreciated it is very hard to preserve them because the people made them out of wood that rots easily. ...

• Word Count: 285
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

She studied drama and dance at night and was a scholar at the California Labor School. ... She later met the renowned African American dancer and choreographer Alvin Ailey with whom she formed the unsuccessful dance team ˜Al and Rita'. After her divorce in 1954 Angelou worked as a stage performer in clubs where she sang and danced calypso music and garnered a reputation for pushing the boundaries for what was accepted as the norm. ... While in Ghana, Angelou also secured jobs as a writer for "The Ghanaian Times", a feature editor for "The African Review", and as a freelance writer...

• Word Count: 884
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

"The Rumba" The Rumba is a mixture of several different dances in which originated in Cuba and Africa. ... In the early 16th century, slaves imported from Africa to Cuba were dancing a ceremonial dance known as the "son." The native dance is a folk dance. It is danced very quickly and swiftly with vigorous moments from the dancers. ... When dancing the Rumba, you use your hips in a more exaggerated way than you would with any other dance. ...

• Word Count: 665
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

CHANGES FOR AFRICAN AMERICANS IN THE 1920"S In the 1920's, African Americans were going through many changes and were doing many new things that they hadn't even thought about doing before that. ... Not only did African Americans start jazz, but some of the best jazz musicians were African American. ... This is when African American literature, art, music, dance, and social commentary began to flourish in Harlem, which is an area of New York City. ... It was a celebration of the unique culture of African Americans, and gave the world a new view of African American expressio...

• Word Count: 840
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

The Tango Throughout the late 1800's, many people migrated to Argentina from Spain, Africa, Italia, and the Ukraine. ... Because of the great amount of immigrants coming from Europe and Africa, the people to form the tango brought with them elements from their cultures. ... This would have well described the dance because the tango was a very passionate dance with usually entailed dancing without separation of the two bodies. It is possible that the religion candombe of the Africans that were brought to Argentina influenced the tango with its steady beat of the drums. ... The danc...

• Word Count: 391
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• Grade Level: High School

Sam had been training Willie to be a dancer at the start of the play. ... Sam counters by explaining that dancing is an art much like painting or music. Sam also goes on to compare dancing to politics. ... Fugard was demonstrating the religious tensions that plagued South Africa. ... All three of which plague South Africa even to this day. ...

• Word Count: 428
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• Grade Level: High School

Montes steered the Amistad toward Africa but very slowly. ... The Africans were described as "ecstatic." ... Some of these freed men tried to raise money by dancing and singing. ... The 35 surviving Africans and 4 missionaries boarded the ship and headed for West Africa. After 50 days, they arrived in Freetown Harbor, and some immediately showed their happiness by stripping off their clothes and dancing. ...

• Word Count: 1082
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• Grade Level: High School

The Black slaves of colonial America brought their own culture from Africa to the new land. Despite their persecution, the "slave culture" has contributed greatly to the development of America's own music, dance, art, and clothing. ... Another type of music distinct to African slaves was gospel. ... A main difference between African and Christian religions, however, is that Africans did not find it necessary to convert all other cultures to their religion. ... It may be that Africans had scientific methods native to Africa that they brought to the New World, but these were o...

• Word Count: 1049
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• Grade Level: High School

It is one of the most popular in Latin music, especially for dancing. ... After many successful hunts the families would celebrate and dance to Merengue. ... So when talking about dancing it's referring to dancing that can be enjoyed by an audience. ... Most of the Africans came from western coastal region of African and were brought to Cuba on slave ships. ... Further more why there are different ways to dance to them. ...

• Word Count: 893
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• Grade Level: High School

The Watershed is a contemporary piece including nine dancers that is choreographed by Kyle Abraham. ... There were 4 female dancers and 5 male dancers in the piece, one of them being the choreographer; Kyle Abraham. ... I believe history repeats itself considering how African Americans are still currently fighting for the same rights that they were fighting for back in the 1950's. ... Unarmed teen Michael Brown was shot an murdered by a white police officer back in august and there is outrage throughout the entire African American community. ... Watermelon, African americans stereotypical...

• Word Count: 744
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: High School

Fads of the Roaring Twenties included Flagpole sitting, the dance marathon, and a Chinese game, Mah-jongg. ... Dance floors shook all over the country with various dances that accompanied the music. ... The Roaring Twenties marked a new generation of American Literature and the recognition of African American writers. ... The Harlem Renaissance, the rebirth of African American culture, was a huge part of the Roaring Twenties. ... Black writers wrote about the experiences of African Americans, the lynchings and other violence that they had to survive after WWI. ...

• Word Count: 909
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Carolina and the middle states enslaved Africans as well. ... There they were traded for Africans. ... The slaves mixed their African roots with Christianity. The African practice of the give-and- take between caller and dancers in the African ring-shout dance became apparent in the slaves "responsorial" style of preaching in which frequent assents and omens accentuated the minister's sermons. ... Music and dance were the slaves vehicle of self expression. ...

• Word Count: 1117
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

Rwanda The Republic of Rwanda, also known as Rwanda, is located in Central Africa. ... Rwanda is the most densely populate county in Africa. ... Rwanda's Dances come from traditional backgrounds. One famous dance in Rwanda is called the Butare Dance. ... Pastimes include poetry recitation, storytelling, and mancala, a board game common throughout Africa. ...

• Word Count: 478
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• Grade Level: High School

Before going to this performance, I didn't know a lot about the plot of the play except that it was based off ancient west African history; but I later discovered that it covered the controversy of the life events of heretic Pharaoh, Akhenaten, husband of Queen Nefertiti and the father of Tutankhamun. I didn't research what the part of African history it covered before so I didn't recognize any of the names of the characters or know the complete story while watching. ... Other than the aspect of the plot being confusing, I thought the dancers and actors did a job well done. ... ...

• Word Count: 537
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• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Merengue is a type of dance that is most strongly identified with the Dominican Republic. ... One of them being that the black slaves saw the ballroom dances in the Big Houses and when they had their own festivities started mimicking the "masters' dances". However, the Europeans dances were not very exciting, so over time, the slaves added the use of the drums to make the dance more upbeat. Even though it was very popular among the masses, high-class people did not accept merengue for a long time, because it was related to African music. ...

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Mae is famous because she was the first African American to travel into space. ... Like many girls Mae also loved to dance. Almost every day she would have 1 hour dance lessons. ... Mae got reedy as fast as possible and when the day came Mae boarded the spacecraft called the Endeavor and latter that day may earned a place in history for being the first African American to ever endure in space. ...

• Word Count: 319
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Before the slave trade, there were many different African religions that were being practiced at the time. However there were still common African religions that a majority of people would follow. ... They also created dances and songs to not only complement their beliefs and practices but strengthen the morale of the people. ... Haitian voodoo was derived from western African voodoo. ... Missionaries also scornfully looked down on African religious practices such as their dancing and practice of polygamy. ...

• Word Count: 850
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate