313 lines
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313 lines
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<p>
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<span class="auto-style12"><span class="auto-style1">
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<strong class="auto-style3"><em class="auto-style17">The Significance of African Dance</em></strong></span></span></p>
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<h1>
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<img alt="" src="images/dancehoyes.png" style="width: 227px; height: 300px; display: block;" /></h1>
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<h1 class="auto-style12">
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<span class="auto-style2" style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;">
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Music, dance and storytelling were the means in which our ancestors
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preserved their history. The blacks race's <br />
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history was based in oral
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traditions and the keepers of these traditions were griots and bards.</span><span class="auto-style3"><br class="auto-style4" clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />
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</span></h1>
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<h1 class="auto-style13">Traditional African dance is correspondent to
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Yoga.</h1>
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<h1 class="auto-style5">
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<a data-saferedirecturl="../google.com/url_q=http_//www.angelfire.com/empire/serpentis666/Yoga2.html_source=gmail_ust=154826.html" href="../www.angelfire.com/empire/serpentis666/Yoga2.html" target="_blank">
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<span class="auto-style14">More about Yoga</span></a></h1>
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<p class="auto-style5"> </p>
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<span class="auto-style12">
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<h1 class="auto-style5">
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<span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;">All the gentile
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races had their own form of this practice though it was not called Yoga.
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The Asians such as the <br />
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Chinese have utilized Qigong, Tai chi and related
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practices, the Aryans and East Asians performed what we generally
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know
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as Yoga and the Blacks specifically identified with dance.</span></h1>
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<h1 class="auto-style5">
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<span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;">Dancing and
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body movement were performed by all the gentile races in some way or
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form. All of these emphasized
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total body awareness, union within the
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mind body and soul, developing physical strength and capability as well
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as <br />
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achieving a spiritual state of being.</span></h1>
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<p class="auto-style5"> </p>
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<p class="auto-style5"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">Traditional
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African dance is powerful and physical and depends on coordination and
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synchronization within body. Its utilizes the concepts of polyrhythms in
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which the shoulders, chests, pelvis, arms and legs may move with
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different rhythms in the music, and total body articulation and
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isolation of parts of the body.</span></p>
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<p class="auto-style5"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">The
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traditional movements also include, depending on the dance, hip and
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rhythmic gyrations of the back and lower spine,movement of the hips to
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open up the hip centers, body shaking, movements of the cranial with
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knees bent (as seen in many asian spiritual practices such as Qigong)
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and foot stomping. <br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />
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</span></span></p>
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<p class="auto-style5"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">
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<span class="auto-style12">With further
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observation of the dances, I have seen many similarities between yoga
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and the traditional dances such as use of mudras, rolling of the neck,
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the cobra pose, spinal twists, the warrior pose and other yogic
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positions but this is performed while maintaining constant movement of
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the body. The movements range from simple and regal to complex and fast.
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This takes control and connection. </span></span><span class="auto-style12"></p>
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<p class="auto-style5"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">
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<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />
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</span></span></p>
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<p class="auto-style13"><span style="line-height: 1.22em;">One wonderful
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example of this is the African dance called the Yanvalou. It originated
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in West Africa and was brought over to Haiti during the Trans-Atlantic
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african slave trade along with many other traditional and african pagan
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religion. </span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;">The
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Voodoo based practices today in Haiti and in some parts of the Americas
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was derived from the official Vodun religion based on the wisdom of the
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Serpent, in Africa.</span></p>
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<p class="auto-style13">
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<a href="voodoo.html">
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<span class="auto-style14">Voodoo</span></a></p>
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<p class="auto-style13">
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</p>
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<p class="auto-style13">
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The Yanvalou is
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a Vodun dance that invokes and calls upon the all important
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serpent/snake deity called Damballah who brings upon wisdom and purity.
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Damballa is another name for the kundalini serpent.<br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />
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</p>
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<p class="auto-style13">
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Yanvalou dance
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is said to be one of the most important of the Vodun based dances and is
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usually performed before ritual. The dance consists of spinal twists and
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manipulations, Contractions of the solar plexus, undulations of the back
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from the base of the spine upwards while knees slightly bent and
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releasing of the chest. This mimics the movements of the serpent or the<span> </span>
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waves of the sea. <br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" />
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</p>
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<p class="auto-style13">
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The Yanvalou is
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performed at a slower tempo so that trance can be obtained. Dancers
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allow their body to relax while working at the same time and expand the
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breath movement throughout the entire body on a vertical axis. With
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Yanvalou and other derived dances such as zepol, banda gede, mayi and
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parigol, I note that many of these dances in tribute to "Damballah" put
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emphasis on the lower spine, hip and sacral area while also grinding,
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contracting and moving the pelvic area to stimulate the sexual energy.</p>
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<p class="auto-style13"> </p>
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<p class="auto-style13">In speaking of the kundalini and of spiritual
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energy being invoked through movement, In Nigeria during Yoruba
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ceremonies, many describe their progress of their shamanistic dancing
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culminates in a surge of heat rising from the base of the spine. </p>
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<span class="auto-style12">
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<p class="auto-style5"> </p>
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<p class="auto-style5">
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<span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;">The Kalahari
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Bushmen in Namibia, also speak of vital spiritual energy which they call
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N'um. They call it the vital energy residing at the base of the spine
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and bursts out of the crown of the head. They are said to enter a trance
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and then 'heat' and stir the energy up through dancing and they channel
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it for their shamanic healing rituals.</span></span></p>
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<p class="auto-style13"> </p>
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<p class="auto-style13">
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In Africa, the
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drum has a spiritual significance as well. It aids in ritual and
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dancing. Dance and music along with the rhythm of the drum are
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inseparable expressions. The beating of the drums facilitate awareness
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and helps to induce trance. As the vibrations of the drums permeate the
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body, altered states are achieved. The music and dance work to entrain
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the body and entrance the mind into a personalized and vibrationally
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conscious state.</p>
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<p class="auto-style13"> </p>
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<p class="auto-style11"><span class="auto-style12">R</span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;" class="auto-style12">esearch
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has even demonstrated that energetic rhythms cause the brain to
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synchronize and helps to balance the cerebral hemispheres. This makes
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much sense in that the africans used this energy to also mimic
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primordial energy and go along in tapping into their own divine
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energies. One Vodun practitioner calls the drum playing as 'beating the
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spirits into the head'.</span></p>
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<p class="auto-style13"> </p>
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<p class="auto-style5">
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<span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;">
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<span class="auto-style12">In my
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experience in african dance, namely the Yanvalou, It keeps my spine
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supple and flexible and my body worked out. I like to practice this
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before my meditations. It is a specific dance with which I equate with a
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different form of kundalini yoga. I also find that I get an energy buzz
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after the dancing and so it is an enjoyable way for me to begin my other
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practices. I love african dancing as it is very fun, freeing and groovy!</span><br clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em;" class="auto-style12" />
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<br class="auto-style12" clear="none" style="line-height: 1.22em; font-size: large; " />
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</span></p>
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<p class="auto-style5"> <span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;"><span class="auto-style12" style="font-size: large; ">Movement is life.</span></span></p>
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<p class="auto-style5"> </p>
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<p><span class="auto-style12"></p>
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<p></span></p>
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<p class="auto-style22">Sources:</p>
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<span class="auto-style12">
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<p class="auto-style23">Daniel,
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Yvonne "Dancing Wisdom" 2005</p>
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<p class="auto-style23">Bynum,
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Edward "The African Unconsciousness" 2012</p>
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<p></span><span style="line-height: 1.22em; word-spacing: normal;">
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<span class="auto-style20">Welsh-Ashanti "African Dance" 2004</span></span></p>
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<p> </p>
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<p class="auto-style20">*photo by Bernard Hoyes</p>
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<span class="auto-style19">Blacks for Satan; All rights reserved. </span><em><strong> </strong></em></p>
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