Test 1 Flashcards
6 basic characteristics of African dance
• Flat-footed, favors gliding, dragging, or shuffling steps
• Performed from a crouch, knees flexed and body bent at the waist
• Generally imitate animals in realistic detail
• Places importance on improvisation which allows for freedom of individual expression
• Centrifugal, exploding outward from the hips
o The leg moves from the hip instead of the knee, the arm from the shoulder
• Swinging quality
Slave journey to the New World
• Procurement/acquiring of cargo o 1 month- a year o enticed slaves with dancing o abducted individually or in pairs o captured as POW and acquired through “dealers” • The Middle Passage o 15 days – 4 months o disease and malnutrition o roughly half of the slaves would be lost on the journey o shaved heads to prevent lice o forced to eat whatever was on hand o temporary blindness was common- developed from scurvy • Landing and disposal of slaves
Stono Insurrection
- Also referred to as the Cato conspiracy
- 1739 Stono plantation
- Slaves killed two guards, stole arms and ammunition, and escaped to Florida. “They marched to the beating of two drums and killed all whites that interfered.”
- Drums caused many slaves to gather together
- Lead to the banning of drums
- Some drums did survive, mostly in the Georgia costal islands and in Louisiana
Instruments used by slaves
• Tambourines made from cowhides stretched over cheese boxes
• Cow bones that could be knocked together to keep time
• Broom-straws on fiddle strings
• The human body
• Banjar or banjo
• Fiddle
• Pots and pans beaten as drums
• Quills/reeds
• Slave orchestras played for white owners on fiddle and tambourine
• Slave dances used banjo, fiddle, quills, tambourine, bones
o Rarely did they use drums, pots, or pans
o Almost always used voices and clapping
Buck, Buck, and Wing
o “It went two steps to the right, two steps to the left. The womens shake their skirts and the mens dance round them”
o Possibly danced by only men
o More authentic dance of the slave culture
o Buck and wing was later seen in minstrel shows
Pigeon Wing
o Performed over a large geographical area
o Slapping arms and legs and moving neck like a bird’
o More authentic dance of the slave culture
Jig
o Used in contests where slaves of one owner would compete against the slaves of another owner
o Would sometime use a bucket of water on the head
o Developed as an imitation of white culture
Cake Walk
o Common festival dance in Virginia
o Contest dance, winner sometimes won a cake
• when done for whites, the mistress of the big house would make a cake
• when done for other slaves, cornmeal cake
o Would sometimes use a bucket of water on the head
o Developed as an imitation of white culture
o A couple’s dance
o Was first known as the “chalk line walk”
Ring Shout
o One of the more primitive dances
o Performed in a ring
o Comparable to the dance done in the West Indies by the Congo Negros
o Sometimes had a spiritual element to it
• Buzzard Lope (animal dances)
Buzzard Lope
o Imitated buzzards that circled dead cows
Animal Dances
o Turkey Trot o Snake Hip o Fish Tail o Fish Bone o Camel Walk
Water Dances
o Water was carried on the head as a part of the dance and was usually used as a method of determining a winner in a contest
o “Set the Floor”
Juba Dance
o Originally dajuba- a sacred dance
o Distinguished by the patting that accompanied it
o “Patting Juba”- stamping, clapping, and slapping of arms, chest, and thighs, which appeared extensively when drums were prohibited
o a competitive dance of skill
o survives today as the hambone
Quadrilles, Cotillions, Reels
o Mostly of the circle and hand-clapping type, but were strongly influenced by the English Square Dance and the French Quadrille
o Sometimes competitive- house slaves vs. field slaves
o Turned into figure dances
o Cotillions- call and response
Saturday Night Dances
o Saturday was the big night of the week
o Only night for slaves to enjoy themselves
o Dances or frolics were held on the plantation simply to celebrate Saturday night
o Some slave owners would not allow dances on their plantations, but would allow slaves to travel to the next plantation over to celebrate
Corn Shucking
o Generals set the tempo of the corn shucking by their singing
o Special to find a red ear of corn
Weddings
jumping the broom tradition
Funerals and Burials
o Usually buried within a day, but the funeral would have to wait for a preacher to arrive, sometimes took months
o African influence
• Torch procession to burial
• Each person would put dirt on the grave
Juba
- A free black man, William Henry Lane (Juba)
- Known for his jig dancing
- Wore blackface
- Performed mostly at low class dives to start
- His dancing was a blend of Irish and Afro-American dance tied together by rhythm
- Beat our the famous white dancer, Master John Diamond, in a series of contests
- Became known as the “king of all dancers”
- He joined a minstrel group with 3 white dancers in 1845 and got top billing on the program
- 1848- went to London to perform
- He helped the minstrel show “maintain the integrity of the Negro culture and art”
The Virginia Minstrels
first formal minstrel group
1840s
4 white minstrels
Standard minstrel show format
• 1st part
o entire company sat in a semi-circle
o Endmen were known as Mr. Tambo and Mr. Bones (comics)
o Interlocutor (master of ceremonies) in the center
o Q&A took place between the MC and the comic endment
• 2nd part
o known as the “olio”
o variety of singing, dancing, and speaking acts
• 3rd part
o the afterpiece
o started as a dramatic interpretation of Negro life
o then became a burlesque of popular serious dramas of the time
o Performed by the entire company
Essence
o Came from the black shuffle o Developed into the soft shoe • Grace and elegance emphasized o Started out fast and got slower o George Primrose (Irishman) • Leading performer of the soft shoe • Bill Robinson’s idol
