Dance research in Africa

Abstract

This paper examines the state of research on dance in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Tanzania. Dance is an essential part of daily life for people in Africa. African dance is one of the original forms of dance, and together with music, has often been used in place of written forms of language as a means of communication. The rhythms and movements of African dance have had a major influence on developments in dance and music worldwide. The fundamental nature of African dance is what has led me to focus my research in this area, in order to trace the roots of modern forms of Western dance. Ethiopia : Scientific research into Ethiopian dance began in 1964 when two Hungarian folklorists sent by the Hungarian Government traveled throughout Ethiopia collecting data on folk dances and folk music. Gyorgy Martin and Balint Sarosi studied different Ethiopian dances by comparing them with other dances. Tibor Vadasy continued their work by carrying out comparative studies on the dances of different tribes and peoples in regions such as Gojjam, Gondar, and Gurage. Furthermore, one of the primary reasons for building the National Theatre, formally known as the Haile Selassie I Theatre and completed in 1955 based on 18^<th> century French theatre designs, was the preservation and promotion of Ethiopian folk dance and folk music. Kenya : T.O. Ranger's book, "Dance and Society in Eastern Africa 1890-1970 : The Beni Ngoma", is an excellent example of the use of aspects of dance history to grasp the reality of the colonial experiences of a particular region. Ranger covers nearly 100 years of East African history, using data concerning the origin, development, and diffusion of popular dance culture in urban and rural Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, and Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). Another book, "Folk Music of Kenya" by George Senoga-Zake, has introduced Kenyan music and dance to a wide audience. The national dance troupe, Bomas of Kenya, was originally established by the government in 1971 for the cultural entertainment of tourists visiting Kenya. Through Bomas, different aspects of Kenyan culture are displayed, including lifestyles, crafts, music, and dancing. The Bomas Harambee Dancers are the only resident dance company in Kenya and perform daily in a spectacular circular theatre. Tanzania : According to Herbert F. Makoye (1998 : 95-97), serious research on dance in Tanzania started in 1964 following the establishment of the National Dance Troupe under the auspices of the Ministry of National Culture and Youth. The National Dance Troupe was disbanded in 1980, after which the Bagamoyo College of Arts was established in 1981, with dance as a central focus of the college's training program. Another institution to have embarked on dance research is the University of Dar Es Salaam. The first comprehensive research on Tanzanian dance was a 1972 M.A. thesis by Godwin Zilaoneka Kaduma entitled, "The Description of Five Tanzanian Dances". In Japan, from the 1970s onwards, researchers of music and dance, such as Kenichi Tsukada and Yasuko Endo, began to focus on the meaning of dance and music in Africa.