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Today Africa remains rich in the area of traditional Sacred Dance. The Yoruba of Western Nigeria have many traditions of deities dancing. Some are said to be able to dance on one leg. Sango (who is associated with thunder) consulted Orunmila (who is associated with divination and wisdom) as to how he could acquire permanent wealth. Orunmila's advice was for Sango to acquire a splendid outfit onto which he should sew as many cuaris as he possibly could. Cauris were once used as currency and are thus a sign of wealth. People seeing Sango so splendidly dressed would assume that he was wealthy. Orunmila told Sango that he should dance around wearing this outfit. The outcome was that through dancing and asking for alms Sango became very rich. Sango priests carry axes when in company or on parade. Sango priests wear feminine hairstyles, beads around the neck and earrings on festive occasions. The dances for Sango are very fast and athletic. All the deities have their associated dances. To be unable to dance is to be unable to worship properly. In Ghana I have seen young men dancing in trance and slashing at themselves with razor sharp cutlasses. The ferocious slashing never broke the skin or even left a mark. I have also witnessed Sacred Dances to the deities of the Thunder Pantheon. Here older female cult members wandered among the crowds making suggestive gestures with a wooden phallus. The performance was supposed to be amusing and it was. There were also conjurers on hand changing sand to powdered white chalk. Anyone could come and watch the dances if they showed the proper respect to the deity. This meant that both men and women had to be bareheaded. The men had to tie their cloths around the waist so that they were bare-chested and women had to tie their cloths under the armpits. West African Sacred Dances tend to be danced outdoors often at night. The dancers come onto the circular dance area and leave it as they see fit. They may all be dancing the same steps but each dancer expresses them in his or her own way. Everyone dances as a group but has their own "space" within it. The dancer and the choreographer are one and the same person. Africa stands in grave danger of losing its Sacred Dances due to the dwindling number of people adhering to the traditional religions. Only cult members may dance the Sacred Dances. Members of Christian churches and Followers of Islam have always not unsurprisingly been expressly forbidden to take part in any Sacred Dances and the number of converts is increasing. Some Christian churches allow a certain amount of drumming and dancing during services. Both the drumming and dancing have little "life force" or visual and aural interest. Musicians are beginning to create new genuinely african Sacred Songs for the church. If anyone knows of choreographers working to create authentic african contemporary Sacred Dance I would love to hear about it. The cults need younger members. If they fail to materialize then the Sacred Dances will not evolve within their true context. The dances will either die out or become shadows of themselves as social dances danced by all and sundry simply for pleasure. I have written very little indeed about the music which is of equal importance to the dance. The music is a subject in itself. If you are interested in African Rhythms I suggest that you try and get hold of "An Approach to African Rhythm" by Dr Seth Cudjoe published by the Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon. The Sacred Dances of Bali, Indonesia are a beautiful prayer made manifest. . Wali are Sacred Dances indispensably connected with rituals of the same name. They take place on the first day of a ritual, in the inner courtyard of the temple. Sanghyang Dedari and Sanghyang Jaran are both Sacred Dances. I witnessed Sanghyang Dedari in which two little girls danced in a trance mirroring each others movements. Their eyes were wide open but they were said to see nothing. At the conclusion of the dance they were brought out of trance by a white-clad priest who sprinkled holy water on them. Sanghyang Jaran is a very spectacular dance in which A young man wears a belt attached to which is a horse's head woven from coconut fronds. This young man was put into trance by a priest. He then ran prancing like a horse into a fire of coconut husks.After which he stood still for a while before jumping around Next he moved out of the fire and the burning husks were raked together before once again the young man danced into the fire. The third time he did this he actually sat in the embers and rolled around. At some crucial point, not identifiable to those watching, the young dancer was pulled clear and helped out of his trance. The Balinese are devout Hindus and the Sacred Dance tradition is treasured, appreciated and is still very much a part of every ones lives. Let us hope, that in the parts of the world where there is still genuine Sacred Dance it will not degenerate into a spectacle where we are aiming to influence an audience rather than the Spiritual World.
Article Source: http://www.klienwachter.com
Dzagbe Cudjoe is a Dance Movement Therapist and ethnologist with wide experience of Dance in Africa and Europe. As an ethnologist her main field of research was into West African traditional religion. As a Dance Movement Therapist her area of specialization is working with children who have challenging behaviour or severe physical and intellectual Special Needs. Dzagbe is now working on helping the parents of such children to appreciate the healing effects of dance. She is the author of the e-manual "Dance to Health - Help Your Special Needs Child Through Inspirational Dance." www.dance-to-health-help-your-special-needs-child.com
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