It all started with a prayer. A man dressed in white singing in a foreign language. Different languages, different people, different colors and different races. It was all part of the show that was named African Dance! What is African Dance? It is not mere dancing and music, and vendors and food....

ss"Jazz dance is a form of personal expression created and sustained though improvisation...it has certain defining characteristics, including improvisation, isolation, a centrifugal explosion of energy that radiates outward from the hips, and a propulsive rhythm that gives a swinging quality to th...

All forms of Afro-Caribbean dance have their roots in Africa. In the 15th to 18th century when slaves were being brought over to America from Africa, they were mostly gathered from the western coast of North Senegal and South Angola. The reason for most of them coming from this region is because th...

African American Culture Culture is not a fixed phenomenon, nor is it the same in all places or to all people. It is relative to time, place, and particular people. Learning about other people can help us to understand ourselves and to be better world citizens. One of the most common ways of...

The Rumba The Rumba is a word used for a group of related musical and dance styles authentic to Cuba. It is also a genre for singing and dancing, born of an Afro-Spanish tendency, with a distinctive African mark. Its origins can be found in poor urban sites with a highly concentrated population o...

The first museum I went to was my favorite. I went to the Museum for African Art displaying the Hair exhibit. The name of the exhibit sounded very uninteresting, but I was proven wrong. The first thing that I learned from this exhibit is that in Africa the way your hair is done represents your posit...

Dancing Dance is rythmic movement of the body. It is usually performed to music, that serves as a form of communication or expression. People express themselves naturally through this movement. Dancing is the transformation of ordinary, expressive movement turned into extraordinary movement for...

By 1945, nearly everyone in the African American community had heard gospel music (2). At this time, gospel music was a sacred folk music with origins in field hollers, work songs, slave songs, Baptist lining hymns, and Negro spirituals. These songs that influenced gospel music were adapted and re...

An exceptional innovator and pioneer, Katherine Dunham revolutionized the dance world. Her blend of cultural anthropology with the artistic genre of dance in the early 1930's, produced groundbreaking forms of movement (known today as the Dunham technique), and established black dance as an art f...

The Harlem Renaissance was a period for blacks to engage in life. Life, which consists of good, evil, happiness, sadness, communication and expression, was more like a prison built on a foundation of hardship, suppression and all the counter parts of the good things, the things worth living for. Bu...

In the plays, As You Like It, by William Shakespeare and, A Raisin In The Sun, by Lorraine Hansberry, there are various dramatic techniques that are employed by the playwrights. Some of the techniques developed in both of the plays include contrast, satire, irony, sarcasm, parody, music and dance...

RUMBA I have always enjoyed music and dance and have been interested in its history. As a result of this class, I have a much greater appreciation for the sound, rhthym, dance, spirit and cultural significance of the Rumba. Now, when I think of Rumba, I hear the beat of the drums and my feet be...

"To me passion is so essential...it hurts any kind of dance when there's no artistry. There are just feats." - Donald McKayle Born in July 6th 1930 in New York City, Donald McKayle first gained an intense interest and admiration in dance more than half a century ago aft...

The roots of Hip Hop culture sink decades deep into the soil of urban civilization. The term "Hip Hop" was coined by DJ Kool Herc, meaning that the beats were hip hopping back and forth from one turntable to the other. Kool Herc and Bambatta are documented spinning breakbeats in the early seventie...

Big Band Big band refers to a jazz group of 10 or more musicians, usually featuring at least three trumpets, two or more trombones, four or more saxophones, and a rhythm section of accompanists playing some combination of piano, guitar, bass, and drums. Big-band music as a concept for music fans i...

The Evolution of Rap Music All one has to do is simply observe their surroundings to realize the huge impact of rap music on today's society. The way people dress, talk, and act have all been influenced by the cultural phenomenon known as rap music. Almost every aspect of American culture has b...

Junkanoo: Overrated? What is Junkanoo? Junkanoo is a form of Bahamian cultural expression, which has been if derived from their ancestry. This parade is held twice a year, December 26th and January 1st. Junkanoo is a celebration of African heritage through costuming, music and dance it is ver...

Influence of Jazz Jazz, a type of music first that was developed by African Americans around the first decade of the 20th century it has an identifiable history and distinct stylistic evolution. Jazz grew up alongside the blues and popular music, but what changed the way of music in America was ...

Jazz at Home in America Jazz is a mixture of culture, rhythm, and blues. It is a melting of many different people and there heritage. This American musical form often-improvisational development by African Americans, and influence by both European harmonic structure and African rhythms. Du...

The Caribbean island of Barbados is quickly becoming a hub for many tourists. In previous years sugar cane was our main source of income; however, it has been quickly overtaken by Tourism. Due to this rise in Tourism, the government had to put several activities in place to attract and keep their mo...

THE EVOLUTION OF RAP MUSIC Rap is a form of urban music, which emerged from the 'hip-hop' movement of the South Bronx, New York, in the early 1970's. The hip-hop culture was comprised of the popular street activities of African-American youth during the 1970's such as: styl...

Maya Angelou has accomplished much more than being a world-renown poet, novelist, and historian. She's also a director, producer, and screenwriter. To arrive at this level of success, Maya had to overcome many obstacles including dropping out of high school, having a child at a young age and being ...

From years 1505 to 1870, the world underwent the largest forced migration in history. West Africa was soon to be convulsed by the arrival of Europeans and become the advent of the transatlantic slave trade. Ships from Europe, bound for America, appeared on the horizon, and their captains and sai...

The Harlem Renaissance The neighborhood of Harlem was the place to be in the 20's. It was the jazz age and in New York City, Harlem was the site of an explosion of African-American literature, art, music, and culture. This would become known as the "Harlem Renaissance" or "The New Negro ...

The Harlem Renaissance marked the first time that mainstream publishers and critics took African American literature seriously. It was also the first time that African American literature and art attracted significant attention from the nation at large. Although it was primarily a literary movement,...