Bryttni Pugh

Williams

DANC 4001-006

1 March 2017

Black Dance in the Slavery Era: Reflection

There was an abundance of new information received in the text. I find it interesting that

the qualities and traits of the Shout transformed from the Cakewalk to jazz and from rock n roll

to tap dance. I knew that jazz and tap dance originated from African culture, but I did not know

that the foundations of those forms went as far back as the Shout. Additionally, I did not realize

that drums were banned because they were used as a source of communication for the slaves. I

also find it strange that whites were trying to make blacks ashamed of African-style dance in order

to repress it and that the American perspective saw African dance as barbaric.

Enslaved African Americans fostered dance by incorporating characteristics that created

an identity for traditional African dance. The torsos of the dancers are inclined forward toward the

earth. Musicians typically play a gourd banjo and a drum; the drum is used for percussion.

Communities surround the dancers and incorporate strips of cloth and a stick or staff into the dance.

Group dances are significant to African American identity and useful for the continuation of

African-derived dances.

Restrictions in African culture affected the practice of spiritual practices such as Ring

Shout. Enslaved Africans had to find alternative forms of percussion as the drums were banned for

being used for slave communication. Patting, clapping, and the stomping of the feet were common

alternatives. The Ring Shout moved away from the strong African influences of ritual and

communal characteristics that were present in its foundation because the American perspective
was not welcoming of African culture. African dance had a negative stereotype in America, such

as that is was barbaric and unchristian, and slave owners often repressed it. Due to the bad image

associated with African dance and the restrictions of shouting and percussion, blacks resorted to

secretly engaging in dance and shout in the outdoors, sometimes at night and outside church

services.

Ring Shout is shaped by slavery conditions and incorporates cultural and religious content.

The Shout is a dance performed in a counterclockwise circle as a form of religious worship with

call and response shouting and singing, with the feet on the floor, and with a clear space. The form

evolved from the history of rice culture in which slaves cultivated and processed rice.

The "Shout songs" prior to the implemented Christianity in the Ring Shout could have been

from inspirations of nature, personal experiences, struggles, celebrations, or routine or work. The

songs could have also been used to push through exhaustion or depression. The shout dance before

Christian influences could have mirrored the pure physical activity that the slaves engaged in.

Perhaps the movement could have had less sliding and scuffling as those steps came from the

values of Christian worship. The way in which they danced would have been in the form of African

ritual dance.