045:030: Introduction to African American Culture 2009: Professor Whaley Post: Dance, Dance, Dance

Monday, April 6, 2009

Professor Whaley Post: Dance, Dance, Dance

The film Stomp the Yard and America's Next Best Dance Crew has really put dance back on the map as an important form. On this show, we see people from a variety of backgrounds showing their dance skill, and many of the dances shown have their roots in Black culture.

This week we will discuss the traditions and innovations in Black dance. In a variety of forms, including ballet, tap, disco, stepping, hip-hop dance, folk/traditional African dance, modern dance, breaking, house dance -- to specific dances like the ring shout, cake walk, moonwalk, hully gully, and electric slide -- we see the elements of African/Black cultural aesthetics. The aesthetics of cool, forms of masquerade, apart playing and dancing, percussive movement, dances of derision/songs of allusion are just a few components of Black American dance. What is unique about the various forms of Black dance is that Black Americans have troped other dance forms to reflect Black culture, and they have been innovators in creating unique dance forms since the 17th century. Older choreographers like Deborah Allen, Kiki Shepard, Paula Abdul, and Jeffery Daniels are household names (or at least they are the ones I can think of right now) and newer artists like Ciara, Chris Brown, and Usher have all shown themselves as strong dancers who do more than implement the work of a choreographer; they help to innovate new dance forms. On Thursday, if we have time, we can view clips from Rize of clowing and krumping and Black Greek stepping, but I wanted to provide examples of tap, disco, modern, West African, and hip-hop to point to a diverse array of forms:

Thus, here are some examples of Black dance throughout time. Can you isolate the Black/African aesthetic?:

Soul Train Line/Disco:

Soul Train - Soul Train Line - 1974
Uploaded by cyrildac

Josephine Baker: Stage Dance

Ciara: Modern Hiphop Dance

Alvin Ailey: Classical Dance

Chris Brown (Sorry, in no way do I want to promote his alleged behavior, but I hope that we can review his dance style while still being critical of his alleged behavior. If you don't wish to view this, we can move on to the Omarion clip).