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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 ...

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,...

The Role of Third Cinema Third Cinema as Guardian of Popular Memory refers to popular memory as an oral historiography of the Third World folklore, serving as an account of memories passed from generation to generation. Unlike traditional Western Cinema, like that of the United States which is ...

The San Juan Pueblo Indians have an extremely unique and authentic culture and world view. They incorporate symbolism into their dances, songs, and their basic way of life. The San Juan Pueblo Indians have a dance called the Pogonshare. Pogon, in the San Juan Pueblo language, means "cloud.&...

African Americans were among the people who were enslaved at the time in the 18th century. Most of the slaves were located in the south. There are three main things that helped the slaves to overcome these troubles of slavery, by no means did they make up for the torture they were put through; how...

Freedom through Christianity What do people look for in religion? Do they look for guidance, beliefs, reason, or do they look for help? African-Americans have looked for all of these for many years. They found all of these in Christianity. Christians believe in one God who they worship, trust, and l...

Alexander Falconbridge, The African Slave Trade(1788) Alexander Falconbridge was a surgeon on several of the slave ships that sailed from Africa to Europe. In this document Mr. Falconbridge describes the living conditions that the African people had to endure during the middle passage from Afr...

In the early 1900s, particularly in the 20s and early 30s, African American literature, art, music, and dance began to flourish in Harlem, a section of New York City. Variously known as the New Negro movement, the New Negro Renaissance, and the Negro Renaissance, the movement emerged toward the end ...

The Harlem Renaissance brought about many great changes. It was a time for expressing the African-American culture. Many famous people began their writing or gained their recognition during this time. The Harlem Renaissance took place during the 1920's and 1930's. Many things came...

The Black slaves of colonial America brought their own culture from Africa to the new land. Despite their persecution, the "slave culture" has contributed greatly to the development of America's own music, dance, art, and clothing. Music It is understandable that when Africans were torn from their h...

Brandi L. Robinson Soc 200 Telecourse July 3,2000 Writing 4/1 Culture is the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, arts, beliefs, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought typical of a population or community at a given ti...

Kwaito Kwaito is a genre of South African music that started in the 1990's. The word kwaito comes from the Afrikaans word kwaai which means anger. The kwaito artists put together different sounds from marabi, kwela, mbaqanga, bubblegum music, and Imibongo. South African music legends like Miriam Ma...

In Western Cultures, the church teachings influenced the way people died and offered them hope for their afterlife. People believed that we will all die. Towards the end of the twentieth century however, death became a ver private event. People denied death. The people of the Medieval Period w...