Time for change – an article by Caroline Muraldo
(This article appears in May ‘03 issue of the international dance magazine, Dance Theatre Journal under the title ‘Interminological Inexactitude’)
The work of practitioners of traditional dance forms from Africa and the African Caribbean in Britain is in crisis. Our more renowned companies are being downsized or closed down, the lesser known continue to cry out for administrative and financial assistance. In addition, too many educational institutions fail to see the real significance and value of utilising work from this area of dance, including leading dance institutions.
Some of the reasons for this include: the lack of adequate training in technique and limited understanding of the cultural and socio-historical background of the dance forms (the only way to combat this at the moment is to go to the country of origin); the dissemination of misleading or incorrect information about these dance forms and related issues both technical and academic; lack of opportunity for the development of teaching and choreographic skills appropriate to work; the need for informed constructive critical discourse, severe lack of cohesion and mutual support within this area of the dance community; and the forcing of the teaching of these dance forms into the mould of Western dance forms. It also does not help that we are working within a marginalized area of practice, which is already generally undervalued within this society.
Many factors have contributed to the current predicament and many of the problems would be solved by the establishment of dance institutions dedicated to dance forms of Africa and the African Diaspora, especially those of the Caribbean. However I have chosen to focus upon an issue that demands immediate attention: the problem of generic terms and the ways they are utilised as referents for the dance forms of Africa and the Caribbean.
This area of concern has far reaching consequences and seriously hinders the possibility of significant progress towards the deserved recognition and appreciation of these dance forms. It is also an issue where the responsibility for, and initiation of, radical change rests squarely on the shoulders of the practitioners of traditional African and African derived dance forms.
Currently the popular term for dances from the African and the African Caribbean section of the Caribbean peoples is the American term ‘African peoples’ dance’. This term appears to be favoured above terminology such as ‘Black dance’ or ‘African dance’ which is also used to encompass all dance forms that are African derived. Superficially all these labels appear to be logical and helpful as umbrella terms, however, when the implications of such terms are considered in more depth, it becomes clear that the consistent use of such terms contributes significantly to the perpetuation of the crisis outlined above.
Distinctions between African and African Caribbean peoples are not commonly made by the indigenous British community. While in the Americas, American people of African descent are referred to as African American and African Caribbean, there is no equivalent generic term for the same section of the community in Britain other than Black-British. This situation is exacerbated by the lack of education regarding African and African Caribbean cultures, in our schools resulting in a general ignorance and awareness that Africa is the second largest continent, consisting of (arguably) 54 countries with 1500 to 2000 distinct languages, each representing a distinct culture and a multitude of dialects, each dialect representing a subculture. (For example, Nigeria has three main languages and 347 dialects.) Each of theses cultures and subcultures have their own range of dance forms, as African cultures have traditionally created dances to comment every facet of life, such as rites of passage, specific occupations, community status, religious observance, etc. The UK’s lack of awareness of this diversity may well be a misinformed legacy of Pan–Africanism which sought to promote belief in the uniqueness and spiritual unity of African and Caribbean peoples.
Mainstream media and education continue to make little attempt to challenge the notion of Africa as a place of starving black people with swollen bellies and flies crawling around their faces in continual need of the ‘white man’s’ aid. As for representations of dances from Africa – most often seen in a Hollywood jungle action films – they rarely present anything more than the idea of the half naked savage shaking, shivering and jumping around, perpetuating the notion of the dances of the African continent as having no structure or technique, as expounded by early anthropologists and dance scholars such as Laban, Kirstein, Sachs, Sorrell. Consult any of the early books on the world history of dance and you will find no mention of the true nature of dances from Africa. Relegated as the focus of interest of the first chapter, leaving more than two thirds to relate the history of European classical and contemporary ballet, the books depict the dances of Africa, if at all, along with the dance traditions of the South Pacific Central and South America, as ‘primitive’ and they may state that these ‘primitive’ dances are still performed today (Sorrell XXXX, pp. 3-15)
I doubt whether the Negro is capable of inventing any dance at all…a gift for dance inventing as well as the higher development of the other arts and sciences seem to be the privilege of other races… (Laban 1975, p. 133)
Is it any wonder that children of black communities in particular, while proud to be ‘black’, often feel ashamed to be associated with their Africa heritage and anything perceived to be from the continent of Africa? To acknowledge oneself as black does not equate acknowledging oneself as ‘African’ or ‘of African heritage’. The pernicious brainwashing of colonialism has left as one of its legacies the view that ‘the nearer to white you are the better you are’, a view that still persists today. Whilst you cannot deny the obvious colour of your skin you can disassociate yourself from any part of your past that you wish. For example, it was not long ago that I happened upon a conversation by members of a Caribbean elders group that I teach, were individuals were vehemently denying any African connection. This is not an uncommon occurrence among any age group. Furthermore, it is also not uncommon for me to come across both children and adults, from both white and black communities, who refer to Africa as if it is one country, and more than once, both in general conversation and when I teach dances from that part of the world, I have been asked: ‘Do you speak African then?’
A few years ago a friend of mine who was head of dance at a secondary school in west London attended a national conference for dance teachers. At this meeting the lecturer showed a picture that depicted a moment from an African Caribbean dance form yet referred to it as African. When my friend questioned this she was told that the difference was merely semantic. After many, many years of teaching and performing I have come across such occurrences time and time again.
In America, there is no doubt that ‘African American’ refers to black people of African heritage who were born and raised in America. This allows this section of the community to be perceived quite distinctly from black peoples born and raised in the multitude of countries of Africa and the Caribbean who now live in America. In other words, the people in both groups are black and are of African ancestry, but they are of different and distinct cultures. The word ‘African’ in ‘African American’ thereby has a double association that encompasses the notions of both indigenous black Americans and African heritage in American hegemony. The term ‘African people’s dance’ is thereby understood in a cultural context, which supports understanding. On the other hand however, in Britain, the use of the term ‘African people’s dance’ has no further significance than using the term ‘Black dance’ which we shall consider shortly, as there is no equivalent hegemonic context in Britain to achieve the same aim.
The term ‘African peoples’ dance’ refers to all the dance forms of the African continent and the African diaspora ever conceived from the beginning of time to the present day. While the term ‘African dance’ is primarily used to denote traditional dance forms of all peoples from Africa it is also used in a different sense to include the African diaspora. This is in the same sense as persons from the diaspora referring to themselves as ‘African’ not to denote country of birth but ancestral heritage.
In the British context, the word ‘African’ in both terms misleads understanding of what the term ‘African peoples’ dance’ actually means, resulting in a the term ‘African peoples’ dance’ erroneously taking on the primary meaning of ‘African dance’. As a direct consequence, the use of the term ‘African peoples’ dance’ serves to make diasporic traditional dance forms invisible, e.g. traditional Caribbean dance forms.
The term ‘African dance’ is not without its own problems. The equivalent of this term would be for example ‘European dance’. To comprehend the ridiculousness of this term in most contexts, imagine yourself in Ghana on holiday and someone tells you there is a two-hour European dance class going on, what would your response be? Bewilderment? Even an ‘English’ dance class would leave you none the wiser as to what the content of the class was going to be. And yet there are very few people who would question the continued practice of entitling our courses ‘African dance’. While students have built up, over the years, an expectation of what they are going to study in these classes, the term perpetuates the idea that African dance consists only of the handful of dances forms from Africa which are currently taught in this country.
The term ‘black dance’ fairs no better. The term refers to the dance forms of black people and therefore encompasses all that the terms ‘African peoples’ dance’ and ‘African dance’ denote. Yet the term ‘black dance’ can be perceived as an even broader generic term, as it arguably includes any work that is performed or choreographed by a black practitioner. While the work itself does not have to be of African origin the practitioner must.
There is also a fourth term that has recently started to be utilised more frequently: ‘contemporary African dance’. While this term at least attempts to place the work within a particular time period (the present), thereby disassociating it from historical traditional dance forms, the term is still far too broad to have any real definition.
It should now be clear that the utilisation of the terms ‘African peoples’ dance’, ‘African dance’, ‘black dance’ and ‘contemporary African dance’, although each not totally without merit given the right contextual usage, are not only usually misnomers but obscure fundamental understanding. I find myself teaching classes entitled ‘African dance’ or ‘African Caribbean dance’ on the same course with fellow tutors teaching classes such as ballet, kathak, jazz and contemporary ballet. What does this imply? How can there possibly be parity between my class and that of my fellow tutors? The implication must be that the myriad dance forms of Africa and the Caribbean are somehow inferior. After all if you can go to a dance class for one dance form week after week, year in year out and still need to attend in order to improve your technique and yet learn the dances of whole of Africa or the Caribbean (or both) in the time slot this must surely be the conclusion.
It is clear to me that even specialists in the world of dance have drawn this conclusion. For example, while teaching in the dance department of a leading university, I was informed that a discussion had been held in my absence as to whether there was enough information about the dances of Africa and the Caribbean to develop a three-year course. I was astounded. Experts from a variety of non-African or non-African derived dance forms held this discussion. The fact is that all too often our work is seen as merely ‘good fun’ with little appreciation or understanding of the rich inherent value and potential contribution that could be made by these dance forms to the development and appreciation of dance and dancers in this country, an opinion that I have actually heard voiced more than once.
How can you justify stating that you are teaching dances from Africa and the Caribbean if this multi-faceted area of dance is as enormous as I have outlined? The important factor to note here is that the emphasis of the ‘African or African Caribbean dance’ class is quite different to that of other dance classes. Students are given the opportunity to merely physically ‘taste’ a range of dance vocabulary from a range of dance forms (albeit a very limited range in light of the title of the classes) rather than to perfect a range of dance vocabulary and technique within a specific dance form as in other dance classes. Unless this fact is fully explained by the tutors, the repercussion of this practice is the idea that the multitude of dances of Africa and the Caribbean can be learnt within a few weeks of one class a week while other non- African or African derived dance forms take years to perfect.
There are many reasons underlying this practice but a main one is that the vast majority of students attending this type of class tend to be of non-African heritage and those of African heritage brought up in this society whose movement background is likely to be completely contrary to the requirements of any dance vocabulary taught in these classes, muscle memories have been established that are extremely difficult to change. For example, while Western dance forms tend to be mono-rhythmic and mono-dynamic, a fundamental characteristic shared by dance forms from Africa and the Caribbean is the polyrhythmic and poly-dynamic usage of the body that often exists within any single movement, i.e. there can be at least two or more simultaneous rhythms with a specific dynamic for the execution of these rhythms within each utilised body part. In addition, the dances’ traditions are taught completely out of context and therefore devoid of purpose and cultural understanding. It is therefore generally considered unlikely that many students will ever truly master the dance vocabularies, as they should be performed as in their original context, no matter how long the students work at it. Detailed proficiency in specific dance forms thereby becomes secondary to physical challenge and enjoyment.
It may however be time to reconsider this notion. While the argument for current practice may arguably be based on a sound premise, there is an urgent need to recognise that while the teaching of traditional dances from Africa and the Caribbean continues to be put on a par with specific single non-African or African derived dance forms under ridiculously broad umbrella terms, the notions of inferiority in regards to the dances from Africa and the Caribbean will continue to be perpetuated. The answer is surely to either stop the current practice in favour of specialism or add specialism to the current practice as an important opportunity for students to study dance forms into the same depth as other dance forms popularly taught in this country. This would mean reaching deep into the forms and insisting on correct physical and contextual understanding incorporating the meaning and employment specific to the form, rather than the norm of touching a range of unconnected dances that does nothing to further the appreciation of the complexity of this area of dance as a whole.
Further to this, there needs to be a move away from the careless use of the generic terms ‘African peoples’ dance’, ‘African dance’, ‘black dance’ and ‘contemporary African dance’ in favour of much more apposite terms. Even to entitle a class ‘traditional dances from Gabon’ would at least make dancers aware that there is a country in Africa by this name and that the dances they will be studying will be specific to this country. It would be even more informative to entitle long-term classes with the name of the specific sub-culture from which the dance form has been derived or, even better, the actual dance form. In the interests of the future and development of African and African derived dance forms, one-off courses or short term courses the title of the course must be specific and teachers of these forms must begin to prefer concentrating on one or two dance forms in more depth rather than introducing any more than that. In this way an important shift can be made which towards educating the perception and appreciation of the true nature of dance forms from Africa and the Caribbean.
Sorell, W. (1967). The Dance through the ages. Thames & Hudson: London (pages 9-17)
Laban, R. (1975) A life for dance. Macdonald & Evans Ltd: London.
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