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African Dance
Introduces the history, religious significance, national styles, and basic steps of traditional dance from the Africa.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
October 16, 2023
2.5*
Where do I begin? How do you even write a book about African dances? There are so many countries and so many different peoples and so many dances to cover. It's mission impossible! Several times while reading this book I felt like I was just going through a list of different dances and their short descriptions. The book was divided into west, east/central, north and southern Africa, which rendered this book as clumsy as the "Asian Dance" of the World of Dance series. I really enjoyed the "Middle Eastern Dance" way better than the Asian and African counterpart. More focus was placed on West Africa than the other regions and the North Africa chapter felt contradictory sometimes compared to the "Middle Eastern Dance" book. Also, Madagascar was completely left out. When I searched on the internet for some dances, no results were yielded, which may be due to spelling or lack of resources.
What I at least appreciated in this book was how interconnected and holistic African dance is. The circle reflects this continuity and the respect and gratitude for the earth reminds everybody that we are one. There's not even a clear distinction between performer and audience, because everybody is part of the dance, hence where the call and response element came from. The dance is a reflection of life and repetition is desired in order to achieve transcendence.
This should only be used as an introduction to African Dance and nothing more.
Where do I begin? How do you even write a book about African dances? There are so many countries and so many different peoples and so many dances to cover. It's mission impossible! Several times while reading this book I felt like I was just going through a list of different dances and their short descriptions. The book was divided into west, east/central, north and southern Africa, which rendered this book as clumsy as the "Asian Dance" of the World of Dance series. I really enjoyed the "Middle Eastern Dance" way better than the Asian and African counterpart. More focus was placed on West Africa than the other regions and the North Africa chapter felt contradictory sometimes compared to the "Middle Eastern Dance" book. Also, Madagascar was completely left out. When I searched on the internet for some dances, no results were yielded, which may be due to spelling or lack of resources.
What I at least appreciated in this book was how interconnected and holistic African dance is. The circle reflects this continuity and the respect and gratitude for the earth reminds everybody that we are one. There's not even a clear distinction between performer and audience, because everybody is part of the dance, hence where the call and response element came from. The dance is a reflection of life and repetition is desired in order to achieve transcendence.
This should only be used as an introduction to African Dance and nothing more.
Displaying 1 of 1 review