Martin Köpp

African dancing has both historical and social traditions that reflect more significance than those of many other cultures. The dances help celebrate not only special events and festivals, similar to other cultures, but often tell the stories of the nation's history. Unwritten oral history, passed through generation before writing became part of the culture, often included African dance as part of the process.

African dancing has both historical and social traditions that reflect more significance than those of many other cultures. The dances help celebrate not only special events and festivals, similar to other cultures, but often tell the stories of the nation's history. Unwritten oral history, passed through generation before writing became part of the culture, often included African dance as part of the process.

Many of the dances taught the young about social morays and values, others were simply for the joy of celebration. Some of the dances were tributes of thanks to the gods for helping the tribe achieve success on a hunt or harvest.

Many tribes trained singers to provide the music for the African dance. They produced intricate harmonies and set the rhythmic pace for the dance. While most of the music came from vocals, often drums accompanied the singers to provide heavy rhythms for the dancers. The bougaragou, on of the drums used, is by far the most popular, although there are dozens of others.

The drum and the rhythm is provides signifies the heartbeat and essence of the tribe. It shows the tribe's vitality. Similar to the ringing of a bell on as a call to gather, the beating drum also indicates the need for a community gathering. It's a symbol of solidarity throughout all African nations, and joins the people, just as the history and production of the African dance.

Unlike many European or Latin dances, traditional African Dance is a collective experience. There are normally no partners, hand-holding or passionate embraces. In short, African Dancing is about the entire community rather than just a single couple. Many times dancers are actually separated by gender and age to symbolize the different stages of life.

Singers for the dance provided the background music. The trained voices produced intricate harmonies and melodies and often provided the rhythmic pace for the dance. Some tribes used more than just the vocals for the rhythm; they used drums also. Of all the many different drums the tribes used in their dance ceremonies, the bougaragou was the most popular and frequently used.

The following is a list of some of the most popular traditional African dances:

The warrior dance is a wild and violet dance that prepared the men for battle. As the dance continued, the fervor of the dancers increased in violent actions and mimicked those movements found on the battlefield.

Dance of Love: A slow dance that is performed to acknowledge and celebrate special occasions like weddings or anniversaries. It is often danced only by the women.

When a child passed into adulthood, the tribe also celebrated that occasion. The coming of age dance was part of the celebration.

While there are other important dances in the African culture, these few mentioned are often included in many tribal celebrations. The steps of the individual African dances might be different but the meaning it held remained the same and showed solidarity of the people of Africa.