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
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

AFRICA ART Since the beginning Africa Art has played in integral part in American history. ... Meanwhile, masks were used as a symbol during celebrations, initiations, war preparation, peace and trouble times, and masks are worn by a chosen or initiated dancer. ... The dancer wearer the mask go into deep trance, and during this state of mind he "communicate" with his ancestors. ... The dancer brings forth messages of wisdom from his ancestors. ... Rituals are always accompanied with song, dance and music, played with traditional African musical instruments. ...

• Word Count: 1298
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

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
• Approx Pages: 3
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

The Bangarra Dance Theater is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organization founded in 1989 by African American arts administrator, Carole Johnson and is based at Walsh Bay in Sydney. The company is nationally applauded for its impressive and compelling dances. ... Stephan was chosen to be Artistic Director of Bangarra in 1991 and ever since then he has built a powerful reputation for the company touring nationally and internationally, some of his most recognized works are; Skin ( 'Best New Australian Work' and 'Best Dance Work', 2001 Helpmann Awards), Bush ( ...

• Word Count: 617
• Approx Pages: 2
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Graduate

Interpretation of "The Harlem Dancer" The poet, Claude McKay, was an African American who was born in Jamaica. ... One poem in particular, "The Harlem Dancer", reflects his anger towards the the perjudice that the black people received, and many other African Americans looked to him for inspiration. ... This signifies that the African Americans at this time had no voice in society. ... McKay explains that the dancer is not proud of her "accomplishments" as a dancer. ... The symbols used within the poem vary from the physical appearance of the dancer to the way she dances. ...

• Word Count: 1662
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Interpretation of "The Harlem Dancer" The poet, Claude McKay, was an African American who was born in Jamaica. ... One poem in particular, "The Harlem Dancer", reflects his anger towards the the perjudice that the black people received, and many other African Americans looked to him for inspiration. ... This signifies that the African Americans at this time had no voice in society. ... McKay explains that the dancer is not proud of her "accomplishments" as a dancer. ... The symbols used within the poem vary from the physical appearance of the dancer to the way she dances. ...

• Word Count: 1634
• Approx Pages: 7
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Being an African-American and just thinking about what Africa is to Americans, it is easy to think of Africa being a giant desert or jungle. ... To be an African does not mean to have black skin, to be African is to have roots in Africa. ... When girls see a famous music artist doing a new dance, they admire the attention that artist is getting and they copy it. ... I've never seen a girl from Africa twerking on a social networking site nor have I seen Africans fighting each other just because they disagree on something, but I see American girls dancing inappropriately and fighting all th...

• Word Count: 2957
• Approx Pages: 12

The Africans were captured in West Africa and forced to board ships, stripped naked with no belongings from their previous life. ... The most important areas of this cultural legacy are those of art, medicine, music/dance, religion, beliefs, folktales and language. ... European instruments were then integrated in the music and dance such as the violin and mandolin. ... This was the suppression of the African culture. However, the slaves continued singing and dancing, the Kumina dance in particular was popular and has been preserved. ...

• Word Count: 2280
• Approx Pages: 9
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

Just to name a few, the parents are similar to the white people who did not like the African Americans and the teenagers dancing represented the African Americans who wanted equal rights. ... The teenagers' dancing represents the African Americans having to sit in the back of the bus. It was illegal for the teenagers to dance. ... Sitting in the front of the bus was something that African Americans wish they could do; just as dancing is something the teenagers wish they could do. Ren could not believe that dancing was illegal and he fought for the right for the teenagers to be allowed to...

• Word Count: 1310
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

In the 16th century, a "Rumba influence" was given by the African slaves and the middle and high class of the Cubans. ... Jive originated in the South Eastern part in the United States, which the African Americans performed competitively. ... Jive is usually performed by African Americans but had a part of Latin American vibe and soul. ... Cha Cha's origin was this religious ritual dance of Wets Africa. ... For example, African-Americans, the indigenous Lundu, high society members in Rio, and Brazilian dancers developed Samba, whereas Rumba came from African slaves and the middle and ...

• Word Count: 1167
• Approx Pages: 5
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

Storytelling, music, and dance have all played a central role in African culture, because they help preserve history and religious and social customs. Traditional drama in Africa combines storytelling, songs, and dances with costumes, masks, mimes, traveling entertainers, and persons called griots. ... Their drumming and dancing clearly followed African patterns; whites marveled at them. ... Ring Shouts - Involved dancing as well. ... They are also linked with the ring-shout, an ecstatic dance of African origin. ...

• Word Count: 2002
• Approx Pages: 8
• Has Bibliography
• 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
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School

The dancer is symbolic of America's distorted value system, the perception of African Americans seen by the white males. The dancers tattoo suggests American freedom, something that the African American society wants. ... She, the dancer, is allegorical of how little authority both African Americans and women have in a society lead by white males. ... The African American boys are reprimanded for watching the dancer's performance as well as not watching. ... The dancer has essentially no choice other than to dance, though she doesn't want to, for all of the men in the room. ...

• Word Count: 677
• Approx Pages: 3
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

During the 1600s to the early 1700s, the majority of the music was mainly instrumental accompanied by dancing and chanting. ... However, slaves did dance and chant often because the enslavers felt that this would give them some relief from the cruelties of slavery. ... Even with all of these bans, the people still assembled in song and dance. ... The next era of African American music was called, "Classical African American Music (1860s -1950s)." ... Jazz was a more energetic and upbeat form of Ragtime music; it was a music that anyone and everyone danced to. ...

• Word Count: 4223
• Approx Pages: 17
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School

White people dressed up as plantation slaves and acted like black musical in the act of dance forms. ... African Americans were shown as innocent people who sang and danced all night long. ... The term "African American Literature" is understood by most as Sub-Saharan (East and West) Africa. ... Jazz dancing became the new thing and Jazz dancing schools began to open up. They first opened up in Harlem and then downtown to teach people that didn't know how to dance. ...

• Word Count: 1283
• Approx Pages: 5
• 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
• Approx Pages: 1
• Grade Level: High School

Dancing gives many benefits. ... Merengue specifically originated from African slaves who mimicked the white-upper class dances. ... For example, in the African-derived communities, "ritual dances were mechanisms for survival in the face of oppression, brutality, and racism.... Everybody danced differently, proving that there's no uniform way of dancing to any music. ... Dance is a universal language. ...

• Word Count: 1112
• Approx Pages: 4
• Has Bibliography
• 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

Introduction The Middle Passage is the crossing of the Ocean from Africa to America of African people, who passed from the state of liberty to the state of slavery, and took place between the XVI and XIX centuries. ... The Diaspora gives birth to a new human being: the African American, who links together the African and the American culture. ... For Africans the slave ship is a hell over the water. The phase of transition from Africa to America took place on the slave ship which had two important functions: the first was the "transmutation", which meant that the transportation of t...

• Word Count: 4160
• Approx Pages: 17
• 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

Would you agree that African culture survived more strongly in the Caribbean colonies than in North America? In 1562 John Hawkins, the first English slave-trader arrived in Africa with a fleet of three ships. Into these ships he put the three hundred black Africans he had abducted from Sierra Leone. ... African "promiscuity" was seen as proof that family life did not exist in Africa as Europeans knew it. ... LEISURE (MUSIC AND DANCE) "Slaves often sang when at work in the fields or factory, measuring out via songs the pattern of work, the rhythm of labour; a refrain and choral response w...

• Word Count: 2095
• Approx Pages: 8
• Grade Level: Undergraduate

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
• Approx Pages: 2
• 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
• Approx Pages: 2
• Grade Level: High School

The Slave Dancer a novel by Paula Fox, a tale which took place in the 1840s in New Orleans, Louisiana to the coasts of Africa and to the Mississippi River, the colonial years of America, when slave trade and land exploration was everyday life. ... Cawthorne's intentions were to put about a hundred slaves in there, African gold he called them. Finally the day had come when they had reached the coast of Africa. ... The Captain ordered for Jessie to dance the slaves. ... Jessie grew up lived his life and nearly forgot about his trip to Africa in 1840 the way he use to dance the slaves by t...

• Word Count: 1821
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School

Their music consisted mostly of beats from all kinds of drums, dancing about to the pure rhythm. ... "It was created in the days of slavery in America, when a black person was still an African in America, not an African-American. ... Music is often combined with speech, dance, and the visual arts to create multimedia performances. ... (African American music). ... Still today there are many African influenced music. ...

• Word Count: 1385
• Approx Pages: 6