African Dance Course - Essay Example

As the teacher of this class noted, the African cultures from whence these dances originally came tended to use dance as an outlet to express human emotions that otherwise would not be reflected within the tribe or group themselves.

Within such an understanding, the highly physical and emotionally charged dances allow the participant, as well as the viewer, to note how dance was and is used as a means of greater personal expression within the African culture as compared to the manner through which it is employed in so many other cultures around the globe. Although true that African dance fulfils the traditional requirement of providing a forum/platform for courtship and sexual energy to be represented, the way in which the culture represented history, told stories, staged miniature exhibitions, and celebrated religious festivals or even funerals are all uniquely tied to the many types of cultural dances that are represented under the umbrella term “African dance”.

Another element beyond the scope of these dances and the sheer physicality involved that should be noted is with respect to the fact that the focus of the dance is not on the individual; instead, they invariably focus on the community. Evidence of this can of course is seen due to the fact that there is no clear difference between the “audience” and the “dancer(s)”; as either one can become the other at almost any point during the dance. This is of course a culturally distinct element of African dancing that is not represented in many other forms of dance represented throughout the globe.

With all of this in mind, the cultural relevance of African dance should also be noted with regard to the way in which young people traditionally practised in seclusion for weeks or months on end; as a means of perfecting their dances prior to their coming of age ceremonies. The reason for this is based on the fact that physicality, strength, and character were judged as a function of the quality of these dances. For all of these reasons, the cultural relevance that African dance has had, and continues to have, is as profound as one might come to expect from a form of dance that has been practised and exhibited for centuries.